TLDR: FINRA has access to what in any other organization would be considered massive amounts of insider information. It also has a massive conflict of interest in the form of a 1.6 Billion dollar investment portfolio. The portfolio of the Self Regulatory Agency is largely unknown and is largely (if not completely) unmonitored by any other regulatory agency(s). I would be really, really curious to know how much of that portfolio is short?
In addition to massive conflicts of interest and minimal supervision from the SEC, FINERA does not appear to be directly accountable to Congress, rather than direct accountability FINRA instead invests a lot of money in lobbying. In 2012, it spent $960,000 as it pushed for legislation that would allow it to expand its regulatory reach to include RIAs, who are now primarily regulated by the SEC.
FINERA should have no ability to halt any stocks or securities while it is invested in the very markets it purports to regulate.
https://www.mercatus.org/media/46396/download
”LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY”
”By law, the SEC is in charge of Finra and has the power to approve or reject any rules Finra wants to adopt. But it applies little more than a rubber stamp to Finra’s rules, critics say.”
“In practice, Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC,” Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, noted in a 2015 paper. “Finra rules do not typically attract close attention from the SEC commissioners.”
”Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC.” - Hester Peirce
(Source deleted)
”The Government Accountability Office likewise found that the SEC could be doing a better job of overseeing Finra in a 2012 report and a follow-up report in 2015. In the follow-up report, the GAO said the SEC had improved its monitoring of Finra but that it still needed to develop specific performance goals and measures for Finra oversight, formalize documentation of oversight determinations and perform an assessment of Finra’s internal risks related to staffing and priorities.”
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/how-does-finra-differ-sec/
“Although it has regulatory powers, FINRA is not part of the government. It is a not-for-profitentity and the largest self-regulatory organization (SRO)in the securities industry within the U.S.”
”FINRA stands for "Financial Industry Regulatory Authority" and is a not-for-profit organization overseen by the SEC that seeks to protect investors by primarily overseeing all brokers in the securities marketplace. It lays out specific laws and requirements and provides certificates for individuals to be able to operate in the securities market.”
”FINRA is responsible for overseeing virtually all U.S. stockbrokersand brokerage firmsand providing avenues and legal certifications for those individuals to appropriately operate in their specific marketplaces.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-regulator-is-also-an-investorwith-meager-returns-1507195803 ”Finra's $1.6 billion portfolio has returned 3.4% annually, versus 6% for a half-stock, half-bond portfolio.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-denies-wsj-report-that-regulator-has-underperforming-portfolio-72391 ”Finra denies WSJ report that regulator has underperforming portfolio. Regulator says Journal's analysis makes improper comparison of returns.”
”From Finra’s origins in 2004 through 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s actively managed $1.6 billion investment portfolio has returned 3.4%, or $440 million less than a 6% return had the self-regulator invested in a balanced mix of global stocks and U.S. bonds, according to Wall Street Journal calculations of figures in Finra’s annual reports.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-whos-watching-the-watchdog-72102 *”Finra wields enormous power over the lives of brokers and broker-dealers. Last year alone, it issued more than 1,400 disciplinary actions and barred more than 500 brokers from the industry.
And yet people in the industry know little about how Finra operates, how it spends the millions it collects in membership fees and fines, and how it sets its regulatory agenda. Finra writes its own rules, meets behind closed doors and releases information if and when it deems necessary.”*
”Finra is the watchdog that no one is watching. “It is largely unaccountable to the industry or to the public,” David Burton, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in a February report. “Due process, transparency and regulatory-review protections normally associated with regulators are not present, and its arbitration process is flawed. Reforms are necessary.”
”In an InvestmentNewssurvey of 363 readers who are regulated by Finra, nearly half — 48% — said the organization is not doing a good job of regulating brokers, compared with 29% who said it was. Meanwhile, 61% said Finra is not transparent about its finances, and the same percentage said the SEC’s oversight of Finra is inadequate.”
“Is it [Finra] a government or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly – and monopolies need to be regulated.”
*”Jim R. Webb, CEO, Cape Securities Inc.
Jim R. Webb, CEO of broker-dealer Cape Securities Inc., is frustrated that Finra acts like a government agency but does not have to follow the laws that govern public agencies. For example, it is not subject to laws that would allow the public to attend its meetings, nor is it subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency.”*
”Finra protects itself from lawsuits from members by claiming that as an SRO it has absolute immunity from private lawsuits challenging the conduct of its regulatory mission.”
“There needs to be definition,” Mr. Webb said. “Is it a government agency or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly — and monopolies need to be regulated.”
From a seeking alpha article that I cannot link due to Reddit blocking the site. (just search for the title, top result) Why Does FINRA Have An Investment Portfolio?
Oct. 11, 2017 12:10 PM ET By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist
”FINRA has an investment portfolio with a long track record of underperforming a 50/50 portfolio.”
”So, here’s a weird one involving FINRA that you might have picked up in the last few days. Apparently, it has a large, $1.6 billion investment portfolio, and the returns have been weak, according to the Wall Street Journal, underperforming a 50/50 equity/fixed income portfolio for quite a few years.”
”The WSJ article is woefully incomplete. It doesn’t say what the purpose of the portfolio is, it is unclear how it can even have a portfolio, and there are no specifics as to what the portfolio is benchmarked to other than a reference to a custom benchmark. The origin goes back to 2004, and it came out of the blocks trying to emulate the college endowments, which back then were revered. As a side note, the tide may have gone out some for quite a few of the endowments, but there is still plenty to learn about asset allocation from them.”
”As the story goes, the FINRA portfolio decided to significantly reduce its equity exposure in, um….2009. The article provides no details on how much equity exposure it had back then, but the portfolio underperformed a 50/50 in 2008, or how much it has now, but there is a quote from a spokeswoman about targeting a “much more conservative approach than a 50/50 benchmark.”
The rolls and activities of our regulatory agencies needs to be seriously examined and heavily re-evaluated.

Having been in the cycle for more than 4 years, 2 Mains and 1 Interview later, I all of a sudden feel a deep sense of hopelessness within me.
If anyone had asked me a couple years back, "Why do you want to join the services?" my answer would have been on the lines of "to help build a better society", "to improve the law & order situation", "to improve the perception of the Police" (I specifically targeted for the IPS), and these were not just words, I truly believed that I could somehow help people to the best of my abilities as an officer, without any obstruction of any kind, because that's literally my duty.
But somehow, all of a sudden, I feel like the ground reality is radically different from what my naive self used to think. I pride myself on being an "idealist", I never wished for "power" and "paisa", but only for unobstructed independence to carry out my duty. However the more I observe my surroundings the more I'm convinced that the straightest tree gets cut down first.
No matter what I do, no matter where I go, Politics will never leave me alone.
It will just be a matter of registering an FIR against some "connected" person, or a matter of offending some "biased" senior and my career will go down the drain. I'll become yet another Ashok Khemka (IAS) or worse Amitabh Thakur (IPS).
Almost all the officers that do well in the services are as cunning as these politicians if not more, and I find myself scratching my head, wondering, how a hopeless dumb idealist like me will slither around this cobweb of power politics.
I somehow feel that we live in a time when being politically "neutral" or politically "apathetic" will most probably land you in a light desk obscure department as an AIS officer, gagging your chances to do something worthwhile for the society.
I don't really know, I may be wrong about this perception, just like the majority of us, I don't have anyone around me who is "in the system" to tell me the fact from fiction. And while I do agree that the proof lies in the pudding, its not really a pudding, its an egg, curate's egg.

This post relates to GME because this is a part of our market that requires more reform than we previously anticipated. TLDR: FINRA has access to what in any other organization would be considered massive amounts of insider information. It also has a massive conflict of interest in the form of a 1.6 Billion dollar investment portfolio. The portfolio of the Self Regulatory Agency is largely unknown and is largely (if not completely) unmonitored by any other regulatory agency(s). I would be really, really curious to know how much of that portfolio is short? In addition to massive conflicts of interest and minimal supervision from the SEC, FINERA does not appear to be directly accountable to Congress, rather than direct accountability FINRA instead invests a lot of money in lobbying. In 2012, it spent $960,000 as it pushed for legislation that would allow it to expand its regulatory reach to include RIAs, who are now primarily regulated by the SEC. FINERA should have no ability to halt any stocks or securities while it is invested in the very markets it purports to regulate.
https://www.mercatus.org/media/46396/download ”LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY” ”By law, the SEC is in charge of Finra and has the power to approve or reject any rules Finra wants to adopt. But it applies little more than a rubber stamp to Finra’s rules, critics say.” “In practice, Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC,” Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, noted in a 2015 paper. “Finra rules do not typically attract close attention from the SEC commissioners.” ”Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC.” - Hester Peirce
(Source deleted) ”The Government Accountability Office likewise found that the SEC could be doing a better job of overseeing Finra in a 2012 report and a follow-up report in 2015. In the follow-up report, the GAO said the SEC had improved its monitoring of Finra but that it still needed to develop specific performance goals and measures for Finra oversight, formalize documentation of oversight determinations and perform an assessment of Finra’s internal risks related to staffing and priorities.”
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/how-does-finra-differ-sec/ “Although it has regulatory powers, FINRA is not part of the government. It is a not-for-profitentity and the largest self-regulatory organization (SRO)in the securities industry within the U.S.” ”FINRA stands for "Financial Industry Regulatory Authority" and is a not-for-profit organization overseen by the SEC that seeks to protect investors by primarily overseeing all brokers in the securities marketplace. It lays out specific laws and requirements and provides certificates for individuals to be able to operate in the securities market.” ”FINRA is responsible for overseeing virtually all U.S. stockbrokersand brokerage firmsand providing avenues and legal certifications for those individuals to appropriately operate in their specific marketplaces.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-regulator-is-also-an-investorwith-meager-returns-1507195803 ”Finra's $1.6 billion portfolio has returned 3.4% annually, versus 6% for a half-stock, half-bond portfolio.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-denies-wsj-report-that-regulator-has-underperforming-portfolio-72391 ”Finra denies WSJ report that regulator has underperforming portfolio. Regulator says Journal's analysis makes improper comparison of returns.” ”From Finra’s origins in 2004 through 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s actively managed $1.6 billion investment portfolio has returned 3.4%, or $440 million less than a 6% return had the self-regulator invested in a balanced mix of global stocks and U.S. bonds, according to Wall Street Journal calculations of figures in Finra’s annual reports.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-whos-watching-the-watchdog-72102 ”Finra wields enormous power over the lives of brokers and broker-dealers. Last year alone, it issued more than 1,400 disciplinary actions and barred more than 500 brokers from the industry. And yet people in the industry know little about how Finra operates, how it spends the millions it collects in membership fees and fines, and how it sets its regulatory agenda. Finra writes its own rules, meets behind closed doors and releases information if and when it deems necessary.” ”Finra is the watchdog that no one is watching. “It is largely unaccountable to the industry or to the public,” David Burton, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in a February report. “Due process, transparency and regulatory-review protections normally associated with regulators are not present, and its arbitration process is flawed. Reforms are necessary.” ”In an InvestmentNewssurvey of 363 readers who are regulated by Finra, nearly half — 48% — said the organization is not doing a good job of regulating brokers, compared with 29% who said it was. Meanwhile, 61% said Finra is not transparent about its finances, and the same percentage said the SEC’s oversight of Finra is inadequate.” “Is it [Finra] a government or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly – and monopolies need to be regulated.” ”Jim R. Webb, CEO, Cape Securities Inc. Jim R. Webb, CEO of broker-dealer Cape Securities Inc., is frustrated that Finra acts like a government agency but does not have to follow the laws that govern public agencies. For example, it is not subject to laws that would allow the public to attend its meetings, nor is it subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency.” ”Finra protects itself from lawsuits from members by claiming that as an SRO it has absolute immunity from private lawsuits challenging the conduct of its regulatory mission.” “There needs to be definition,” Mr. Webb said. “Is it a government agency or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly — and monopolies need to be regulated.”
From a seeking alpha article that I cannot link due to Reddit blocking the site. (just search for the title, top result) Why Does FINRA Have An Investment Portfolio? Oct. 11, 2017 12:10 PM ET By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist ”FINRA has an investment portfolio with a long track record of underperforming a 50/50 portfolio.” ”So, here’s a weird one involving FINRA that you might have picked up in the last few days. Apparently, it has a large, $1.6 billion investment portfolio, and the returns have been weak, according to the Wall Street Journal, underperforming a 50/50 equity/fixed income portfolio for quite a few years.” ”The WSJ article is woefully incomplete. It doesn’t say what the purpose of the portfolio is, it is unclear how it can even have a portfolio, and there are no specifics as to what the portfolio is benchmarked to other than a reference to a custom benchmark. The origin goes back to 2004, and it came out of the blocks trying to emulate the college endowments, which back then were revered. As a side note, the tide may have gone out some for quite a few of the endowments, but there is still plenty to learn about asset allocation from them.” ”As the story goes, the FINRA portfolio decided to significantly reduce its equity exposure in, um….2009. The article provides no details on how much equity exposure it had back then, but the portfolio underperformed a 50/50 in 2008, or how much it has now, but there is a quote from a spokeswoman about targeting a “much more conservative approach than a 50/50 benchmark.”
The rolls and activities of our regulatory agencies needs to be seriously examined and heavily re-evaluated.

TLDR: FINRA has access to what in any other organization would be considered massive amounts of insider information. It also has a massive conflict of interest in the form of a 1.6 Billion dollar investment portfolio. The portfolio of the Self Regulatory Agency is largely unknown and is largely (if not completely) unmonitored by any other regulatory agency(s).
I would be really, really curious to know how much of that portfolio is short?
In addition to massive conflicts of interest and minimal supervision from the SEC, FINERA does not appear to be directly accountable to Congress, rather than direct accountability FINRA instead invests a lot of money in lobbying. In 2012, it spent $960,000 as it pushed for legislation that would allow it to expand its regulatory reach to include RIAs, who are now primarily regulated by the SEC.
FINERA should have no ability to halt any stocks or securities while it is invested in the very markets it purports to regulate.
https://www.mercatus.org/media/46396/download
”LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY”
”By law, the SEC is in charge of Finra and has the power to approve or reject any rules Finra wants to adopt. But it applies little more than a rubber stamp to Finra’s rules, critics say.”
“In practice, Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC,” Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, noted in a 2015 paper. “Finra rules do not typically attract close attention from the SEC commissioners.”
”Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC.” - Hester Peirce
(Source deleted)
”The Government Accountability Office likewise found that the SEC could be doing a better job of overseeing Finra in a 2012 report and a follow-up report in 2015. In the follow-up report, the GAO said the SEC had improved its monitoring of Finra but that it still needed to develop specific performance goals and measures for Finra oversight, formalize documentation of oversight determinations and perform an assessment of Finra’s internal risks related to staffing and priorities.”
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/how-does-finra-differ-sec/
“Although it has regulatory powers, FINRA is not part of the government. It is a not-for-profit entity and the largest self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the securities industry within the U.S.”
”FINRA stands for "Financial Industry Regulatory Authority" and is a not-for-profit organization overseen by the SEC that seeks to protect investors by primarily overseeing all brokers in the securities marketplace. It lays out specific laws and requirements and provides certificates for individuals to be able to operate in the securities market.”
”FINRA is responsible for overseeing virtually all U.S. stockbrokers and brokerage firms and providing avenues and legal certifications for those individuals to appropriately operate in their specific marketplaces.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-regulator-is-also-an-investorwith-meager-returns-1507195803
”Finra's $1.6 billion portfolio has returned 3.4% annually, versus 6% for a half-stock, half-bond portfolio.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-denies-wsj-report-that-regulator-has-underperforming-portfolio-72391
”Finra denies WSJ report that regulator has underperforming portfolio. Regulator says Journal's analysis makes improper comparison of returns.”
”From Finra’s origins in 2004 through 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s actively managed $1.6 billion investment portfolio has returned 3.4%, or $440 million less than a 6% return had the self-regulator invested in a balanced mix of global stocks and U.S. bonds, according to Wall Street Journal calculations of figures in Finra’s annual reports.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-whos-watching-the-watchdog-72102
”Finra wields enormous power over the lives of brokers and broker-dealers. Last year alone, it issued more than 1,400 disciplinary actions and barred more than 500 brokers from the industry. And yet people in the industry know little about how Finra operates, how it spends the millions it collects in membership fees and fines, and how it sets its regulatory agenda. Finra writes its own rules, meets behind closed doors and releases information if and when it deems necessary.”
”Finra is the watchdog that no one is watching. “It is largely unaccountable to the industry or to the public,” David Burton, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in a February report. “Due process, transparency and regulatory-review protections normally associated with regulators are not present, and its arbitration process is flawed. Reforms are necessary.”
”In an InvestmentNews survey of 363 readers who are regulated by Finra, nearly half — 48% — said the organization is not doing a good job of regulating brokers, compared with 29% who said it was. Meanwhile, 61% said Finra is not transparent about its finances, and the same percentage said the SEC’s oversight of Finra is inadequate.”
“Is it [Finra] a government or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly – and monopolies need to be regulated.”
”Jim R. Webb, CEO, Cape Securities Inc. Jim R. Webb, CEO of broker-dealer Cape Securities Inc., is frustrated that Finra acts like a government agency but does not have to follow the laws that govern public agencies. For example, it is not subject to laws that would allow the public to attend its meetings, nor is it subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency.”
”Finra protects itself from lawsuits from members by claiming that as an SRO it has absolute immunity from private lawsuits challenging the conduct of its regulatory mission.”
“There needs to be definition,” Mr. Webb said. “Is it a government agency or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly — and monopolies need to be regulated.”
From a seeking alpha article that I cannot link due to Reddit blocking the site. (just search for the title, top result)
Why Does FINRA Have An Investment Portfolio?
Oct. 11, 2017 12:10 PM ET By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist
”FINRA has an investment portfolio with a long track record of underperforming a 50/50 portfolio.”
”So, here’s a weird one involving FINRA that you might have picked up in the last few days. Apparently, it has a large, $1.6 billion investment portfolio, and the returns have been weak, according to the Wall Street Journal, underperforming a 50/50 equity/fixed income portfolio for quite a few years.”
”The WSJ article is woefully incomplete. It doesn’t say what the purpose of the portfolio is, it is unclear how it can even have a portfolio, and there are no specifics as to what the portfolio is benchmarked to other than a reference to a custom benchmark. The origin goes back to 2004, and it came out of the blocks trying to emulate the college endowments, which back then were revered. As a side note, the tide may have gone out some for quite a few of the endowments, but there is still plenty to learn about asset allocation from them.”
”As the story goes, the FINRA portfolio decided to significantly reduce its equity exposure in, um….2009. The article provides no details on how much equity exposure it had back then, but the portfolio underperformed a 50/50 in 2008, or how much it has now, but there is a quote from a spokeswoman about targeting a “much more conservative approach than a 50/50 benchmark.”
The rolls and activities of our regulatory agencies needs to be seriously examined and heavily re-evaluated.

TLDR: FINRA has access to what in any other organization would be considered massive amounts of insider information. It also has a massive conflict of interest in the form of a 1.6 Billion dollar investment portfolio. The portfolio of the Self Regulatory Agency is largely unknown and is largely (if not completely) unmonitored by any other regulatory agency(s).
I would be really, really curious to know how much of that portfolio is short?
In addition to massive conflicts of interest and minimal supervision from the SEC, FINERA does not appear to be directly accountable to Congress, rather than direct accountability FINRA instead invests a lot of money in lobbying. In 2012, it spent $960,000 as it pushed for legislation that would allow it to expand its regulatory reach to include RIAs, who are now primarily regulated by the SEC.
FINERA should have no ability to halt any stocks or securities while it is invested in the very markets it purports to regulate.
https://www.mercatus.org/media/46396/download
”LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY”
”By law, the SEC is in charge of Finra and has the power to approve or reject any rules Finra wants to adopt. But it applies little more than a rubber stamp to Finra’s rules, critics say.”
“In practice, Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC,” Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, noted in a 2015 paper. “Finra rules do not typically attract close attention from the SEC commissioners.”
”Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC.” - Hester Peirce
(Source deleted)
”The Government Accountability Office likewise found that the SEC could be doing a better job of overseeing Finra in a 2012 report and a follow-up report in 2015. In the follow-up report, the GAO said the SEC had improved its monitoring of Finra but that it still needed to develop specific performance goals and measures for Finra oversight, formalize documentation of oversight determinations and perform an assessment of Finra’s internal risks related to staffing and priorities.”
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/how-does-finra-differ-sec/
“Although it has regulatory powers, FINRA is not part of the government. It is a not-for-profit entity and the largest self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the securities industry within the U.S.”
”FINRA stands for "Financial Industry Regulatory Authority" and is a not-for-profit organization overseen by the SEC that seeks to protect investors by primarily overseeing all brokers in the securities marketplace. It lays out specific laws and requirements and provides certificates for individuals to be able to operate in the securities market.”
”FINRA is responsible for overseeing virtually all U.S. stockbrokers and brokerage firms and providing avenues and legal certifications for those individuals to appropriately operate in their specific marketplaces.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-regulator-is-also-an-investorwith-meager-returns-1507195803
”Finra's $1.6 billion portfolio has returned 3.4% annually, versus 6% for a half-stock, half-bond portfolio.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-denies-wsj-report-that-regulator-has-underperforming-portfolio-72391
”Finra denies WSJ report that regulator has underperforming portfolio. Regulator says Journal's analysis makes improper comparison of returns.”
”From Finra’s origins in 2004 through 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s actively managed $1.6 billion investment portfolio has returned 3.4%, or $440 million less than a 6% return had the self-regulator invested in a balanced mix of global stocks and U.S. bonds, according to Wall Street Journal calculations of figures in Finra’s annual reports.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-whos-watching-the-watchdog-72102
”Finra wields enormous power over the lives of brokers and broker-dealers. Last year alone, it issued more than 1,400 disciplinary actions and barred more than 500 brokers from the industry. And yet people in the industry know little about how Finra operates, how it spends the millions it collects in membership fees and fines, and how it sets its regulatory agenda. Finra writes its own rules, meets behind closed doors and releases information if and when it deems necessary.”
”Finra is the watchdog that no one is watching. “It is largely unaccountable to the industry or to the public,” David Burton, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in a February report. “Due process, transparency and regulatory-review protections normally associated with regulators are not present, and its arbitration process is flawed. Reforms are necessary.”
”In an InvestmentNews survey of 363 readers who are regulated by Finra, nearly half — 48% — said the organization is not doing a good job of regulating brokers, compared with 29% who said it was. Meanwhile, 61% said Finra is not transparent about its finances, and the same percentage said the SEC’s oversight of Finra is inadequate.”
“Is it [Finra] a government or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly – and monopolies need to be regulated.”
”Jim R. Webb, CEO, Cape Securities Inc. Jim R. Webb, CEO of broker-dealer Cape Securities Inc., is frustrated that Finra acts like a government agency but does not have to follow the laws that govern public agencies. For example, it is not subject to laws that would allow the public to attend its meetings, nor is it subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency.”
”Finra protects itself from lawsuits from members by claiming that as an SRO it has absolute immunity from private lawsuits challenging the conduct of its regulatory mission.”
“There needs to be definition,” Mr. Webb said. “Is it a government agency or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly — and monopolies need to be regulated.”
From a seeking alpha article that I cannot link due to Reddit blocking the site. (just search for the title, top result)
Why Does FINRA Have An Investment Portfolio?
Oct. 11, 2017 12:10 PM ET By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist
”FINRA has an investment portfolio with a long track record of underperforming a 50/50 portfolio.”
”So, here’s a weird one involving FINRA that you might have picked up in the last few days. Apparently, it has a large, $1.6 billion investment portfolio, and the returns have been weak, according to the Wall Street Journal, underperforming a 50/50 equity/fixed income portfolio for quite a few years.”
”The WSJ article is woefully incomplete. It doesn’t say what the purpose of the portfolio is, it is unclear how it can even have a portfolio, and there are no specifics as to what the portfolio is benchmarked to other than a reference to a custom benchmark. The origin goes back to 2004, and it came out of the blocks trying to emulate the college endowments, which back then were revered. As a side note, the tide may have gone out some for quite a few of the endowments, but there is still plenty to learn about asset allocation from them.”
”As the story goes, the FINRA portfolio decided to significantly reduce its equity exposure in, um….2009. The article provides no details on how much equity exposure it had back then, but the portfolio underperformed a 50/50 in 2008, or how much it has now, but there is a quote from a spokeswoman about targeting a “much more conservative approach than a 50/50 benchmark.”
The rolls and activities of our regulatory agencies needs to be seriously examined and heavily re-evaluated.

TLDR: FINRA has access to what in any other organization would be considered massive amounts of insider information. It also has a massive conflict of interest in the form of a 1.6 Billion dollar investment portfolio. The portfolio of the Self Regulatory Agency is largely unknown and is largely (if not completely) unmonitored by any other regulatory agency(s).
I would be really, really curious to know how much of that portfolio is short? And if they do have short positions, were they short MMTLP when they halted the stock. They used a very obscure type of halt in a big hurry as if they were desperate to save some shorties ass. Was it their own ass?
In addition to massive conflicts of interest and minimal supervision from the SEC, FINERA does not appear to be directly accountable to Congress, rather than direct accountability FINRA instead invests a lot of money in lobbying. In 2012, it spent $960,000 as it pushed for legislation that would allow it to expand its regulatory reach to include RIAs, who are now primarily regulated by the SEC.
FINERA should have no ability to halt any stocks or securities while it is invested in the very markets it purports to regulate.
https://www.mercatus.org/media/46396/download
”LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY”
”By law, the SEC is in charge of Finra and has the power to approve or reject any rules Finra wants to adopt. But it applies little more than a rubber stamp to Finra’s rules, critics say.”
“In practice, Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC,” Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, noted in a 2015 paper. “Finra rules do not typically attract close attention from the SEC commissioners.”
”Finra operates with substantial independence from the SEC.” - Hester Peirce
(Source deleted)
”The Government Accountability Office likewise found that the SEC could be doing a better job of overseeing Finra in a 2012 report and a follow-up report in 2015. In the follow-up report, the GAO said the SEC had improved its monitoring of Finra but that it still needed to develop specific performance goals and measures for Finra oversight, formalize documentation of oversight determinations and perform an assessment of Finra’s internal risks related to staffing and priorities.”
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/how-does-finra-differ-sec/
“Although it has regulatory powers, FINRA is not part of the government. It is a not-for-profit entity and the largest self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the securities industry within the U.S.”
”FINRA stands for "Financial Industry Regulatory Authority" and is a not-for-profit organization overseen by the SEC that seeks to protect investors by primarily overseeing all brokers in the securities marketplace. It lays out specific laws and requirements and provides certificates for individuals to be able to operate in the securities market.”
”FINRA is responsible for overseeing virtually all U.S. stockbrokers and brokerage firms and providing avenues and legal certifications for those individuals to appropriately operate in their specific marketplaces.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-regulator-is-also-an-investorwith-meager-returns-1507195803
”Finra's $1.6 billion portfolio has returned 3.4% annually, versus 6% for a half-stock, half-bond portfolio.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-denies-wsj-report-that-regulator-has-underperforming-portfolio-72391
”Finra denies WSJ report that regulator has underperforming portfolio. Regulator says Journal's analysis makes improper comparison of returns.”
”From Finra’s origins in 2004 through 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s actively managed $1.6 billion investment portfolio has returned 3.4%, or $440 million less than a 6% return had the self-regulator invested in a balanced mix of global stocks and U.S. bonds, according to Wall Street Journal calculations of figures in Finra’s annual reports.”
https://www.investmentnews.com/finra-whos-watching-the-watchdog-72102
”Finra wields enormous power over the lives of brokers and broker-dealers. Last year alone, it issued more than 1,400 disciplinary actions and barred more than 500 brokers from the industry. And yet people in the industry know little about how Finra operates, how it spends the millions it collects in membership fees and fines, and how it sets its regulatory agenda. Finra writes its own rules, meets behind closed doors and releases information if and when it deems necessary.”
”Finra is the watchdog that no one is watching. “It is largely unaccountable to the industry or to the public,” David Burton, a senior fellow in economic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in a February report. “Due process, transparency and regulatory-review protections normally associated with regulators are not present, and its arbitration process is flawed. Reforms are necessary.”
”In an InvestmentNews survey of 363 readers who are regulated by Finra, nearly half — 48% — said the organization is not doing a good job of regulating brokers, compared with 29% who said it was. Meanwhile, 61% said Finra is not transparent about its finances, and the same percentage said the SEC’s oversight of Finra is inadequate.”
“Is it [Finra] a government or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly – and monopolies need to be regulated.”
”Jim R. Webb, CEO, Cape Securities Inc. Jim R. Webb, CEO of broker-dealer Cape Securities Inc., is frustrated that Finra acts like a government agency but does not have to follow the laws that govern public agencies. For example, it is not subject to laws that would allow the public to attend its meetings, nor is it subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency.”
”Finra protects itself from lawsuits from members by claiming that as an SRO it has absolute immunity from private lawsuits challenging the conduct of its regulatory mission.”
“There needs to be definition,” Mr. Webb said. “Is it a government agency or not a government agency? As long as there’s not a choice for brokers, it’s a monopoly — and monopolies need to be regulated.”
From a seeking alpha article that I cannot link due to Reddit blocking the site. (just search for the title, top result)
Why Does FINRA Have An Investment Portfolio?
Oct. 11, 2017 12:10 PM ET By Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist
”FINRA has an investment portfolio with a long track record of underperforming a 50/50 portfolio.”
”So, here’s a weird one involving FINRA that you might have picked up in the last few days. Apparently, it has a large, $1.6 billion investment portfolio, and the returns have been weak, according to the Wall Street Journal, underperforming a 50/50 equity/fixed income portfolio for quite a few years.”
”The WSJ article is woefully incomplete. It doesn’t say what the purpose of the portfolio is, it is unclear how it can even have a portfolio, and there are no specifics as to what the portfolio is benchmarked to other than a reference to a custom benchmark. The origin goes back to 2004, and it came out of the blocks trying to emulate the college endowments, which back then were revered. As a side note, the tide may have gone out some for quite a few of the endowments, but there is still plenty to learn about asset allocation from them.”
”As the story goes, the FINRA portfolio decided to significantly reduce its equity exposure in, um….2009. The article provides no details on how much equity exposure it had back then, but the portfolio underperformed a 50/50 in 2008, or how much it has now, but there is a quote from a spokeswoman about targeting a “much more conservative approach than a 50/50 benchmark.”
The rolls and activities of our regulatory agencies needs to be seriously examined and heavily re-evaluated.

As India’s population ages, the need for senior living options is overgrowing. Independent senior Living is an option gaining popularity among India’s elderly population. It offers a comfortable and secure living environment, as well as a range of services and amenities designed specifically for the needs of seniors. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of independent senior Living in India and some of the factors seniors should consider when choosing a community.

Benefits of Independent Senior Living

1. Comfortable Living Environment — Independent senior living communities offer various housing options, from apartments to villas, with modern amenities such as elevators, power backup, and 24-hour security.
2. Social Interaction — Independent senior living communities allow seniors to socialize with like-minded individuals and participate in group activities and events.
3. Health and Wellness — Many communities offer on-site healthcare services like doctor consultations, diagnostic tests, and physiotherapy. There are also fitness centers, yoga classes, and swimming pools for seniors to maintain their physical and mental well-being.
4. Safety and Security — Independent senior living communities have round-the-clock security measures, such as CCTV surveillance, security guards, and emergency response systems, ensuring the safety and well-being of residents.

One of the primary reasons for the growth of independent senior living in India is the increasing number of nuclear families. As younger generations move away from their parents to pursue educational and career opportunities, there is a growing need for senior living options to provide a safe and supportive environment for older adults who may not have the same level of support from their families. Additionally, many seniors are choosing to downsize their homes and live in a community setting that offers maintenance-free living and access to healthcare services.
Another factor contributing to the growth of independent senior living in India is the increasing awareness of the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle. Many communities offer a range of amenities and services that promote physical and mental wellness, such as fitness centers, yoga classes, and social activities. These services can help seniors maintain their independence, improve their quality of life, and reduce their risk of chronic diseases.

Choosing independent senior Living in India can provide several benefits for seniors, including:

1. Location — The community’s location is essential, as seniors may prefer to live near their family and friends or in a quiet and peaceful neighborhood.
2. Amenities and Services — Seniors should look for communities offering amenities and services, such as housekeeping, transportation, and meal services.
3. Affordability — Independent senior living costs vary depending on the location, amenities, and services offered. Seniors should evaluate their budget and choose a community that meets their financial needs.
4. Reputation — Seniors should research the reputation of the community, its management, and its staff and read reviews from current and former residents.
5. Convenience — Many independent senior living communities provide transportation services for residents to nearby shopping centers, medical facilities, and cultural events.
6. Maintenance-free Living — Living in an independent senior Living community means that seniors can enjoy maintenance-free Living without worrying about repairs or upkeep.
7. Reduced stress — Seniors can experience reduced stress levels in independent senior living communities as they can access various support services and avoid the burdens of maintaining a home.
8. Freedom — Independent senior living communities offer seniors the freedom to come and go without worrying about safety or security.

The demand for independent senior Living in India is expected to grow in the coming years, and many new communities are being built to meet the increasing need. As a result, seniors have a wide range of options, making it easier to find a community that fits their needs and preferences.
In conclusion
Independent senior Living in India offers several benefits that can significantly improve the quality of life for seniors. It provides a comfortable and secure living environment with various services and amenities designed for their needs. Seniors should carefully consider the abovementioned factors when choosing a community to ensure they find the best fit for their needs and preferences.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-27-2023
Seven people died today in a school shooting in Nashville. Three of them were nine-year-olds. Three were staffers. One was the shooter. In the aftermath of the shooting, President Joe Biden once again urged Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons, to which today’s Republican lawmakers will never agree because gun ownership has become a key element of social identity for their supporters, who resent the idea that the legal system could regulate their ownership of firearms.
In the wake of the shooting, Representative Andrew Ogles (R-TN), who represents Nashville thanks to redistricting by the Republican legislature that cut up a Democratic district, said he was “utterly heartbroken” by the shooting and offered “thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost.”
In 2021, Ogles, his wife, and two of his three children held guns as they posed for a Christmas card with a caption that read: “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference—they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
Meanwhile, protests continue in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to hamstring his country’s Supreme Court and put the legislature in charge of judicial review has sparked fierce opposition.
Netanyahu regained power last November while he was facing criminal charges of fraud, breach of trust, and bribery. His far-right coalition put together a government and elevated two critics of the Israeli judiciary, who promptly put forward a plan of “legal reforms.”
According to Amichai Cohen and Yuval Shany in Lawfare, supporters of those changes claim that unelected judges who are part of a “liberal deep state” have too much power, often using it to pursue criminal proceedings against senior politicians, prohibit Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, or to refuse religious exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
On January 4, 2023, Netanyahu’s minister of justice Yariv Levin proposed an overhaul of the judicial system that would put Netanyahu’s slim majority—just 64 seats in the 120-member Knesset—in complete control of the country’s laws, enabling the far-right majority to avoid any checks on its power (as well as enabling Netanyahu to evade the criminal trials he faces).
But Netanyahu did not campaign on remaking the judiciary; it is the far-right members of his coalition who have made it their signature issue. Protests against the measures began almost immediately as alarmed Israelis realized the move would destroy their democracy.
The protests continued until this Saturday, when Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant warned that the massive backlash against the judicial overhaul, including more and more military members who are boycotting their training missions, threatened the nation’s military readiness. He called for a halt to the attempt to force through the changes. Two members of the coalition backed Gallant and one appeared to be wavering, thus threatening Netanyahu’s majority. The next day, Netanyahu fired Gallant.
The firing sparked massive demonstrations and widespread strikes. At first, the far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition refused to stop their plans to overhaul the judiciary and called for their supporters to turn out to oppose the protesters, but Netanyahu apparently cut a deal with them. He has announced that the judicial reforms will be postponed while the two sides look for a compromise, and that he has agreed to the formation of a civil “national guard” the right will control. While Bethan McKernan of The Guardian called this move an empty gesture, Zach Beauchamp of Vox noted that the new paramilitary unit will be under the control of the extremist minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in 2008 was convicted of supporting a terrorist organization and who used to keep a photograph of a mass murderer in his living room.
Still, as Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes, the halt is “pretty transparently a stalling tactic,” launched in the hope that the protests will die down and the package can go forward later, although, as Marshall points out, polls show that the so-called reforms are very unpopular.
The crisis in Israel threatens the country’s relationship with the United States. During the Trump administration, Netanyahu cozied up to Trump and his Republican allies, and Israel’s continued rightward shift has alarmed foreign observers. In early March, Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the state to “erase” a Palestinian town, and he has called himself a “proud homophobe” and a “fascist.” In Israel, Netanyahu’s son tweeted that the U.S. State Department is behind the protests, hoping to overthrow Netanyahu, a sentiment to which Netanyahu himself has nodded.
When Smotrich visited Washington, D.C., earlier this month, White House officials declined to meet with him, and more than ninety Democratic lawmakers wrote to Biden asking him to use “all diplomatic tools available to prevent Israel’s current government from further damaging the nation’s democratic institutions and undermining the potential for two states for two peoples.” According to Josh Lederman of NBC News, more than 300 rabbis last year said that members of Netanyahu’s coalition were not welcome to speak at their synagogues.
The threats to the Israeli judiciary threaten the nation’s economy, as billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed out in a New York Times op-ed earlier this month. “Companies and investors place enormous value on strong and independent judicial systems because courts help protect them — not only against crime and corruption but also government overreach. Just as important, they protect what their employees value most: individual rights and freedoms,” he wrote.
In case anyone missed the obvious comparison between what is happening in Israel and what might transpire in the U.S., Bloomberg continued: “In the United States, our founding fathers’ insistence on checks and balances to control the tyrannical tendencies of majorities was part of their genius. Our Constitution is not perfect—no law is—but its many checks and balances have been essential to protecting and advancing fundamental rights and maintaining national stability. It was only through those safeguards that the United States has managed to withstand extreme shocks to our democracy in recent years—including a disgraceful attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power—without a catastrophic fracturing.”

I (20F) am having a lot of trouble deciding which of two schools to transfer to and my best friend told me to ask Reddit so here I am. Fair warning I have never used reddit before so please forgive any mistakes. I'm honestly not even sure I'm posting this to the correct place.
I originally started out college at my dream school. Like it was the only place I applied senior year of high school I didn't even consider any others. And I loved it. It is a very very small liberal arts school in a small town. I was thriving. I joined a sorority (if any Alpha Gams see this hi!), made so many amazing friends, had great connections with my professors, and overall had a really good reputation around campus. I loved the environment and traditions and literally everything except the cafeteria food lol. It was also 6 hours away from home which was a huge perk. However, toward the end of the semester, I had a major episode. See I have bipolar disorder which was unmedicated at the time and I just completely burnt out and ended up withdrawing from school and taking the next semester off. Long story short I ended up deciding to transfer mainly due to feeling the pressure to from other people. One of my best friends convinced me to transfer to a school in the same city as them and I did. Looking back now I fully admit that this was a mistake. I crashed and burned and spent the entire two weeks I was in that city crying because I hated it and wanted to go home. I was luckily able to switch to an online program with the same school and move back home. For the past year, I've been doing online school and working. Ultimately though I have decided that going back to school in person would be the best thing for me. This brings me to my current dilemma. Originally I had just applied to a third school close to home that my parents want me to attend. But I always regretted leaving the first school and I was literally having dreams about going back at least twice a week. So I decided also to apply to go back there. Most of my immediate family is not very supportive of me going back which isn't helping my dilemma. So I'm going to lay out all the pros and cons and maybe someone here can help me decide.
School A Pros: -Sorority -Already have friends there who have expressed to me they want me to come back -Have established connections with professors -small college (easier to get around as I am disabled) -have a support system already there to help in making new friends/connections -better psychology program -would be able to double major in psychology and history -would be able to live away from home -less stressful requirements i.e. core/gen ed classes, program requirements, etc. -more credits will transfer over Cons: -would put me about 20,000 dollars in debt a year (however my parents have said they would be willing to pay half if I go up there for a year and prove that I can be up there and independent) -I really do hate the 6-hour drive -only has undergraduate programs
School B Pros: -Parents would pay for the entire thing -would be able to keep seeing my normal therapist -goes all the way through to a Ph.D. program Cons: -would be completely starting over for the third time -big campus (harder for me to get around) -have to live at home for at least another year -more stressful requirements to graduate i.e. I'm required to have a minor and have to take an extra two math classes or lab classes since its a bachelors of science which would bring my GPA down -would not be able to double major due to program requirements (it would cause too much stress with my disabilities) -bigger school = bigger classes = environment I do not thrive in
That's about all I have for right now. If anybody has any advice for me I'd love to hear it. And if anyone wants more context or clarification on anything just ask and I am happy to answer!
Edit: Sorry for the formatting I have no idea how to make it look decent

* **Name / Alias:** Elira Scale / The Steel Dragon
* **Age:** 27 Mentally, 8 Years since Awakening
* **Alignment:** Villain (Mafia)
​
# Public Information
​
The Steel Dragon is a well known mafia cape from New York, one of their higher level enforcers, she's a versatile brute, and an easy icon. Images depicting her in her iconic steel scales laying on a mound of golden scales circulated a couple years back, leading to her iconic name, The Steel Dragon.
​
She's a case 53 well known for her Mafia connection, a brute able to fly and launch her scales. Those with access to the protectorate database would also note her changing scales over the years, akin to various metals, and that she has a tendency to leave scales attached to things, and seems to serve as some kind of spy for the mafia, though the specific means are unknown.
​
*Starting Reputation:* B$
​
# Physical Appearance
​
A large lizard-human with metallic scales, she stands at 8'6" if she fully extends herself upwards, though she tends to hunch to a much more comfortable 6'7". She has a large tail trailing roughly 5' behind her. Generally she's the color of steel, the primary material she makes her scales out of, since it is easy to get and a convenient and tough material for her scales.
​
Her rune, a classic Futhark, appears inscribed on the underside of every metal scale she grows.
​
# Mentality
​
She's very pragmatic, and loyal to the Mafia. She had been found and shunned as a monster when she first awakened, especially an early incident where she broke into a hardware store and ravenously began eating the metal components. The Mafia found her and took her in. She was treated well, and became an enforcer at the New York mafia. She was well suited to the work, quickly climbing ranks to her current spot, where she's more or less comfortable to stay.
​
She listens, and does what she's told. She's pragmatic, and quick thinking. She doesn't freeze in a fight, and is a good fighter, honed by years of experience. She struggles with empathy and reigning herself in on occasion, going a little too "Lizard brain" and considering her opponents prey before she's snapped out of it.
​
# Equipment and Resources
​
* Burner Phone - She pretty much always carries one on her when she can. Has had incidents in the past where she wasn't able to reach others in a time of need, and determined not to repeat it.
* Zip-tie Handcuffs - A useful restraining tool, she tends to keep a handful with her.
* Flashlight - Never know when you might need it
* A few small steel bars - Yummy snacks for the road
​
She has a small apartment in the city, and has food delivered to her. She lacks a vehicle, preferring to fly everywhere since she's too heavy for most normal vehicles unless she focuses on using her power to lift her a bit, making her lighter.
​
*Wealth Level:* 5
​
# Skills
​
* Excellent hand-to-claw fighter, powerful and strong, and she's a skilled grappler. She's not going to be winning martial arts contests on pure technique alone but she can definitely hold her own.
* Skilled survivalist, part instinct and part training she's able to survive in the wild basically no problem.
* Highly skilled miner, she's got a nose for metals and can sniff out veins through rock. Between her ability to just eat rock, strength, and ability to claw through the ground she's able to gather metals in the wild fairly easily, though these will generally be low quality and low purity, not the greatest stuff to make her scales from, but they will do in a pinch.
* Passable with guns, knows how to use them but finds them finnicky and hard to use. Much prefers to eat the guns and ammunition.
* Highly skilled chef though she rarely exercises this ability. In fact she will generally simply roast or scorch meat (Or even eat it raw), finding it perfectly palatable, but when persuaded she's a killer cook, and knows how to make tasty meals with relatively ordinary materials.
* Amateur florist and gardener. She keeps a small garden in her home, and is mostly capable of keeping her flowers alive and healthy, though she isn't an expert.
* Amateur Sculptor. She likes to make little figurines from metal in her free time. Her spit makes metal easy to mold, which she uses to make sculpting metals easier.
​
# Power
​
She's a case 53, a large lizard-like humanoid covered in a sheen of metallic scales the size of a fingernail, with large metallic claws at the ends of her hands and feet, and large black fangs.
​
She can control her scales, making them fly around up to 100 meters from her before she loses control. They fly with enough force to chip concrete and embed themselves in steel (Though this damages the small scales at full force). Damaged scales become Untuned, and fall off her and can no longer be controlled/sensed. Lost scales regrow within a day. Each scale is able to lift up to 1 pound. Her claws can also be detached, each about 5x stronger than a normal scale and able to lift up to 5 pounds.
​
She can make the scales stick to things strongly. While at least 1/3rd of her body is covered in scales she is able to fly, though only at a walking pace. While her full body is covered, she's able to fly up to 80 MPH, though this is not agile at high speeds, needing lots of time to slow, speed up, or turn.
​
While the scales are within 100 meters, she can hear through them, though this scales with the number of scales, 1 scale being like she's half-deaf and 20 scales allowing her to pinpoint sounds to an exact location and hear very clearly, or hear frequencies that normal people can't. She can only hear through scales that aren't stuck to her. She always knows the position of every scale as long as they aren't Untuned, no matter the distance. Her scales are able to stick to things, though can be dislodged by hand with some force.
​
While the scales are covering a part, the part is roughly 50% stronger than baseline. Baseline, she's able to bite with the force of an alligator, strike with the force of a middleweight boxing champion, and lift up to 2,000 lbs. Electricity when striking her scales will harmlessly deflect around her generally, doing no damage, but disproportionately causes scales to become untuned and fall off her. A taser strike will remove about a hand's worth of scales. Beneath her scales, her skin / flesh is as durable as strong and tough leather.
​
The durability of a scale /area on her body is roughly that of an inch-thick plate of that material. Scales regenerate within a day of being damaged, and scales that are off of her body for more than a day become untuned and need to be regrown.
​
The material her scales are made out of depends on what metals she is consuming. She is essentially always shedding old scales, causing them to regrow as the new scales of the metal. She can consume her old scales as a source of metal. Her scales inherit most of the properties of the metals she consumes, though power-made material can have unpredictable effects, and may not be able to be "re-consumed" from her own scales depending on the material.
​
She is capable of eating essentially anything. Chemicals and toxins, unless power enhanced do not affect her. While she does enjoy the taste of meat, she is able to subsist and generally prefers eating metals. Without consuming metals her scale regeneration slows to a halt, and her scales burnish and weaken over time. Her jaws disproportionally damage metals, causing them to deform easily for easy consumption. This can be used to her advantage in a battle. She's able to identify metals by their smell, and has a fairly strong sense of smell for it, comparable to that of a bloodhound.
​
She additionally has a slow regeneration, able to heal removed digits, limbs, and other body parts with 2 weeks of time and a lot of consumed meat.
​
She's cold-blooded, and enjoys the heat. Effects which cool her and colder times of the year make her sluggish and tired, and she's liable to be knocked unconscious if cooled enough. She's more resilient to higher temperatures than normal, especially with her scales on, though this isn't full protection. She's comfortable at oven temperatures but higher than that she's liable to overheat, which can be more problematic for her since she can't sweat, and will thermoregulate more slowly than others unless she has a way to cool herself down.
​
*Trigger type:* Coven Case 53 Brute(Mover, Blaster, Thinker)
​
# Example
​
A series of small scales shoot through the door undetected as a customer exits the jewelry store, as she watches discreetly from an alley across the street. The scales carefully tap gently on the floor and walls as they go, not enough to cause noticeable noise but enough for her to hear through her sense of them as they get a rough outline of the store, and track the small noises. A single person. Nobody in the back room. A perfect time.
​
Striding up to the glass front door she punches through it, shattering it as the scales throughout the store shoot back up onto her back where she'd taken them from. With a wave of her hand the claws on her right hand and many of the scales on that arm race outwards, sticking to the one clerk's clothing and suspending him, lifting him up to the ceiling. She then gets to work, using her left hand she punches through any display cases and grabs the jewelry, stuffing it into a backpack she had brought. Once she's had her fill she recalls the scales holding the clerk up with a yelp from him as he's lowered to the floor and then they zip away, and she launches out of the front door, taking off into the sky and accelerating away.
​
# Backstory
​
She was sitting in the little room in her robes, waiting for the doctor to come in. It was fine, really. She had taken a small fall and passed out for a bit after getting a bit woozy from dehydration. Her mother was so worried, so she went to the hospital to allay worries, and was now waiting in the office for her test results.
​
The doctor walks in, solemn, and she picks up on it, quieting down, asking "Hey- is everything alright with me?". No, it is not. She has Brain Cancer, terminal. They caught it too late. She has 6 months to live, maybe a year if they start treatment now. Shell-shocked she makes her way home from the hospital, and decides one thing- she can't tell her mother. They'd lost her father a few years back to pancreatic cancer, and she couldn't burden her mother with that.
​
She begins looking desperately for a solution, anything. This is a crazy world after all, maybe powers had the solution. Any healer cost.. too much. They were busy at children's hospitals and healing other capes, and the price would have been prohibitive. Fine. She looks further, sketchier corners and finds a strange ad directing her to a website. Just contact information, and a little flourish about "A price for power." Well, power was nice. But she'd pay any price to be healed.
​
When she gets in touch, there's only one thing she's asked. What will she give up in exchange for power. "Everything."
​
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
On the grimy streets of New York, 3 months after Elizabeth Cole Alexander disappeared from Connecticut, a lizard awakens. At first she's shunned by superstitious locals, and ends up in a small incident where she's so hungry she ends up attacking a hardware store and ravenously begins consuming the metal parts. After being attacked and threatened off by aggressive local heroes, called a monster- she's left in an alley to lick her wounds, when a local Mafia cape finds her, and invites her to the group.
​
She accepted, and joined the group's ranks, quickly climbing as an enforcer and finding she's good at it- enjoys fighting. She works her way up as a Mafia enforcer in New York over the years, highs and lows, and enjoys a successful career.
​
That is, until she's called for a transfer. Devilfish needing more staff, she was sent. While not entirely happy to be away from the home she'd known all her life, she's determined to make what she can of the opportunity, and help this branch in Devilfish flourish.

The session of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation has kicked off

"Opening the session and welcoming the participants, Deputy Minister of Defense Karen Brutyan emphasized the importance of strengthening and developing bilateral military-technical relations.
The Deputy Minister of Defense expressed hope that during the session there will be effective discussions related to the prospects of cooperation," reads the Facebook post.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107405.html

Speaker of Parliament meets Bundestag President in Germany, calls for sanctions against Azerbaijan

Speaker Simonyan said that Armenia attaches great importance to the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and appreciates Germany’s support in this matter.
Speaking about the post-war situation and the need for urgent solutions to regional security issues, Speaker Simonyan said that the no less destructive developments happening in South Caucasus – around Armenia and the Armenian-populated Nagorno Karabakh – are overlooked by many.
At the request of Bas, Simonyan presented details on the crisis in Lachin Corridor, the danger facing the blockaded 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh and the multi-layered humanitarian problems.
Simonyan warned that Azerbaijan is seeking to forcefully displace the Armenian population before the eyes of the whole world by continuing its policy of ethnic cleansing and creating unbearable living conditions.
The Speaker of Parliament reminded that the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – issued a binding ruling on February 22, ordering Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.
“We expect our German colleagues to take practical steps to ensure the immediate implementation of the court’s decision by Azerbaijan through the application of sanctions against Azerbaijan,” Simonyan said.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107385.html

Azerbaijani troops breached line of contact and advance into Nagorno Karabakh

In violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, the Azerbaijani forces breached the line of contact in the Shushi-Lisagor section on March 25 and secured some “positional advance”, the official Information Center of Nagorno Karabakh reported.
The Nagorno Karabakh authorities immediately notified the Russian peacekeepers on this yet another violation by Azerbaijan.
“The authorities expect the peacekeeping contingent to take practical steps for eliminating the consequences of this violation and preventing new violations,” the Information Center said in a statement.
“Azerbaijan’s false claim on the alleged use of the Stepanakert-Ghaybalishen-Lisagor mountain road for arms shipments is simply a pretext for their own renewed aggressive and destructive actions. They ambushed and killed three on-duty police officers and injured another on March 5 under this same pretext. The government of Artsakh has numerously said that in conditions of the ongoing blockade since December 12, the given mountain road is used for civilian, urgent connection between Stepanakert and four communities in Shushi region, which is carried out with [high-clearance] large vehicles, given the highly complex and hazardous terrain.
And the existence and normal functioning of the Defense Army doesn’t pose any danger for anyone, because it is envisaged exclusively for self-defense, taking into account the real and direct dangers and threats against the physical existence and safety of the people of Artsakh,” it added.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107223.html

Azerbaijan’s attempt to advance further into Artsakh territory foiled

On March 27, at around 9:00 am, units of the Azerbaijani armed forces tried to advance towards one of the heights adjacent to the Stepanakert-Lisagor road, Artsakh’s Defense Ministry informs.
The attempted advancement of the was prevented thanks to the actions of the soldiers of the Artsakh army on combat duty,
The incident was reported to the command of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/27/azerbaijans-attempt-to-advance-further-into-artsakh-territory-foiled/

Nagorno Karabakh reacts to Azerbaijani meeting offer

Below is the full statement issued by the foreign ministry of Nagorno Karabakh.
In connection with another proposal made by the Azerbaijani President's Office to hold a meeting between representatives of Azerbaijan and Artsakh in Baku in early April, we consider it necessary to reiterate the principled position of the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh regarding possible discussions with Azerbaijan, their modalities and objectives. The Republic of Artsakh has always advocated and continues to advocate for dialogue and a peaceful, negotiated solution to all existing problems. We have never refused contacts with the Azerbaijani side, which is evidenced by the meetings held between the representatives of Artsakh and Azerbaijan with the mediation of the command of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in Artsakh. The conditions proposed by the Azerbaijani side regarding the place and agenda of the meeting, as well as the context in which the proposal was made, indicate that the goal of the Azerbaijani authorities is not to have genuine discussion on existing problems, but to disrupt a possible dialogue or to impose their own political agenda through coercion, blockade, creating unbearable living conditions and the use of military force. In this regard, we consider it necessary to recall that three days ago, on 26 March, the Azerbaijani armed forces, in flagrant violation of the trilateral ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020, crossed the line of contact and moved further into the territory of the Republic of Artsakh, in the direction of the unpaved road Stepanakert-Lisagor. Moreover, on 27 March, the Azerbaijani armed forces made another attempt to take control of the mentioned road, which is the only possibility of emergency communication between the communities of Shushi region and other settlements of the republic under the conditions of blockade. We reaffirm our readiness, in line with the established practice of previous meetings, to meet with the representatives of Azerbaijan with the mediation and at the deployment site of the command of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent in Artsakh to discuss issues of ensuring the normal life activity of the people of Artsakh and the proper implementation by the parties of their obligations, in particular, those related to the unimpeded functioning of the Lachin Corridor. In this context, we consider the reopening of the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia through the Lachin Corridor and addressing the humanitarian, infrastructural and other urgent issues caused by the blockade to be a priority The authorities of Artsakh are also open to discussing other issues, which would not be aimed at imposing ready-made solutions on the part of Azerbaijan, but the search of mutually acceptable solutions to stabilise the situation and prevent further escalation of tension. We emphasize once again that the continued blocking of the Lachin Corridor and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh are unacceptable and in no way contribute to creating an environment conducive to dialogue. We are convinced that only proper implementation by Azerbaijan of its international obligations, both under the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020 and the order of the International Court of Justice of 22 February 2023, may testify to Azerbaijan's willingness and interest to address issues through dialogue and negotiations without resorting to coercion and the use of force. We reiterate the inadmissibility of politicisation of dialogue on technical and humanitarian issues and emphasise that the political issues of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement must be discussed in an agreed and internationally established negotiation format, based on the equal rights of the parties and the existence of solid international guarantees for the implementation by the parties of their obligations.”
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107369.html

Charles Michel conducts separate telephone calls with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders

On 25 March, European Council President Charles Michel had separate bilateral telephone conversations with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
Following his last meetings with both leaders in Munich on 16-17 February 2023, President Michel raised with them various topics discussed in the Brussels process between their first trilateral meeting on 14 December 2021 and their fourth meeting on 31 August 2022.
Michel reaffirmed the EU’s strong commitment to helping the sides reach a long-awaited normalisation and sustainable peace and expressed concerns about the continuous crisis around the Lachin corridor, the recent casualties and sharp increase in tensions on the ground as well as accompanying negative rhetoric.
The EU top official urged his counterparts to look for compromise solutions and to refrain from any actions that could lead to risks of escalation.
In both calls, the leaders agreed to stay in close contact.
https://euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/charles-michel-conducts-separate-telephone-calls-with-armenian-and-azerbaijani-leaders/

Armenia’s Constitutional Court greenlights ratification of Rome Statute

The High Court ruled today that the Stature corresponds to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
The decision paves the way for Armenia to join the International Criminal Court.
Although Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1999, in 2004, the Armenian Constitutional Court ruled that the Statute was partially incompatible with the Armenian constitution and could not be ratified.
The ICC is the world’s first permanent international court to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Central to the Court’s mandate is the principle of complementarity, which holds that the Court will only intervene if national legal systems are unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Armenian Government greenlighted the ratification of the Statue at a sitting of December 29, 2022.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/24/armenias-constitutional-court-greenlights-ratification-of-rome-statute/

Opposition nominates candidate for Ombudsman

The two opposition caucuses in the Armenian parliament have nominated their candidate for Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman), a position that has been vacant since the resignation of Kristinne Grigoryan in January.
The opposition’s candidate is Edgar Ghazaryan, a former Armenian Ambassador to Poland and former Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court, the chair of the human rights and public affairs committee Taguhi Tovmasyan said in a statement.
Ghazaryan is a vocal critic of the incumbent government.
The ruling Civil Contract faction earlier announced that its candidate for the position is Anahit Manasyan, the Deputy Prosecutor General of Armenia. Manasyan hasn’t been officially nominated yet.
Candidates must pass a confirmation vote in parliament to be installed as Ombudsman.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107345.html

United States expresses concern over Azerbaijani ‘military movements’

“Assistant Secretary Karen Donfried spoke with Foreign Minister Bayramov this morning and expressed concern over Azerbaijani military movements,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said when asked to give updates from the situation on the ground regarding Armenia-Azerbaijan.
“She emphasized the U.S.’s commitment to Armenia-Azerbaijan peace negotiations. As the Secretary has also spoken about this quite repeatedly, direct dialogue is key to resolving this issue and reaching a lasting peace. There is not a military solution to this conflict. We’ll continue to facilitate discussions between Armenia and Azerbaijan bilaterally as well as with partners, and as well as throughout multilateral organizations as well,” Patel added.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107342.html

Khandanyan presents situation resulted by the blockade of Lachin Corridor to the delegation of Czech Foreign Ministry

According to him, now Armenia is in the continuous processes of democratic reforms and is consistent to the succeeded experience of the Czech Republic.
The Committee Chair noted that this year the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the Czech Republic. According to him, during the past three decades, inter-state warm relations were succeeded to develop and at present, Armenia is ready to deepen the cooperation in all possible spheres of mutual interest with the Czech Republic.
As Sargis Khandanyan observed, the inter-parliamentary cooperation is rather active. He expressed conviction that the mutual interests will promote the strengthening of cooperation between the parliaments of two countries.
Armenia highlights the effective cooperation with the Czech Republic on the bilateral, as well as multilateral platforms, in the EU and multilateral formats, including the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other formats.
Jaroslav Kurfürst thanked Sargis Khandanyan for warm reception and words. He also emphasized the deepening of cooperation between the two countries, noting that on the occasion of the establishment of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, a number of events and mutual visits are scheduled.
According to the Director General for European Issues of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the cooperation in parliamentary format has an important role for enriching the agenda of inter-state relations and deepening of the existing friendly ties.
The Committee Chair presented the situation in Armenia and in Nagorno Karabakh, spoke about the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, underlining that as a consequence of closing of the only road connecting with the outside world, 120.000 residents of Nagorno Karabakh is in full blockade.
Issues of regional security were also discussed.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107331.html

Armenian Prime Minister holds meeting with new Georgian Ambassador

PM Pashinyan congratulated Ambassador Sharvashidze on taking office and expressed confidence that his activities will boost the development of the Armenian-Georgian relationship, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.
The Prime Minister praised the Armenia-Georgia cooperation course and attached importance to further expanding the economic ties and initiatives aimed at utilizing untapped potential.
Ambassador Sharvashidze vowed to make maximum efforts to strengthen the Armenian-Georgian ties.
PM Pashinyan and Ambassador Sharvashidze exchanged views around prospects of cooperation and discussed the trade-economic agenda. In this context they attached importance to active contacts and mutual-visits between business circles and their involvement in investment programs.
The importance of the signing of the agreement on introducing simplified visa-free travel requirements between Armenia and Georgia was stressed in terms of strengthening humanitarian ties.
Both sides attached importance to regional stability and peace.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107141.html

Canada calls on Azerbaijan to release Armenian POWs, reopen Lachin Corridor

“I share the concerns of Armenian Canadians and Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. We continue to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to reopen the Lachin Corridor. We need to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis. Canada supports the 2020 ceasefire agreement, including the return of Armenian prisoners of war. It is important that the ceasefire – which is supported by the EU monitoring group – be respected,” Mélanie Joly said in response to MP Jean Yip, who noted that it’s already been over 100 days that the Lachin Corridor is blocked and that many Armenians in Canada are worried over the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and that the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh could soon escalate. She asked on the Canadian government’s position and efforts in this matter.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107367.html

Armenian Ambassador to UN debunks Azeri accusations on “child soldiers”, letter published as official UNSC, GA document

Margaryan wrote the letter with reference to the groundless, repetitive and false accusations by Azerbaijan which have already been repudiated on several occasions.
Read the full thing in the link, it's a long letter
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107193.html

Armenian Defense Minister calls for continuous enhancement of combat readiness given regional situation

The three-day assembly will feature reports, lectures and exhibition trainings, the defense ministry said in a statement.
Defense Minister Suren Papikyan welcomed the participants of the event at the Defense Ministry headquarters on March 28.
Speaking about the regional military-political situation and the military’s objectives in this context, the minister attached importance to continuous enhancement of the combat readiness of troops, implementation of frontline re-equipment and reinforcement works, and also discussed the ongoing reforms in the military.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107357.html

Due to the regional military-political situation, the Minister of Defense emphasized the increase of combat capability in the troops

According to the preparation plan for the academic year of 2023, on March 28, the three-day operational meetings held with the leadership of the RA Armed Forces started in the administrative complex of the Ministry of Defense.
Defense Minister Suren Papikyan welcomed the participants on the first day of the meeting. Touching upon the regional military-political situation and the problems faced by the armed forces in that context, the minister emphasized the continuous increase in combat capability of the troops, the implementation of frontline furnishing and fortification works, and also referred to the reforms launched in the armed forces.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1107357.html

Greek community of Armenia celebrates independence day

The Pontic Greek community of Yerevan organized a Greek national holiday celebration in the Educational-Cultural Center of National Minorities of the Prime Minister’s Office on March 26.
Greece celebrates Independence Day on March 25.
Colonel Gerasimos Avlonitis, the Defense Attache of the Embassy of Greece in Armenia, attended the event.
Eduard Polatov, the head of the Patrida Greek community of Armenia also delivered remarks
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107274.html

Armenian military builds new base intended for women recruits

Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan visited on March 25 a military base which will house the women’s regiment and a boot camp for women troops.
Papikyan surveyed the buildings and issued concrete instructions regarding the deadlines of the construction.
The Armenian military plans to introduce a new option of voluntary military service for women.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107216.html

Armenian patriarchate calls on Israeli authorities to take serious measures following attack on St. Mary's Church

Below is the full communiqué released by the chancellery.
“The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem strongly condemns the attack on the St. Mary’s Church of Gethsemane, which according to the Status Quo of the Holy Places is under the joint control of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox Churches.
Though it was the first attack on St. Mary since the beginning of this year, the Christian Holy Shrines have been in constant state of both physical and emotional duress by rogue attackers. Had these previous attacks on the Christian Holy Places been swiftly condemned by the local authorities leading to the perpetrators’ punishment to the full extent of the law, there would not be an influx of new attacks on the churches and monasteries of these Christian communities.
Religious intolerance and hate crimes in all their forms and perpetrations will never allow the conditions of peaceful co-existence to manifest. In fact, their presence – especially when gone unchecked by prevailing authorities – will encourage other hateful crimes and intolerances to take place. These actions and their lack of condemnation lead to unsafe conditions for these communities and establishes a lack of trust between worshipers, tourists, and residents with the local authorities.
Therefore, we call upon the Israeli Government and the Police to take serious measures to prevent such attacks and to protect both the Christian Holy sites and their daily worshipers from further vandalism and suchlike attacks.”
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1106888.html

Nagorno Karabakh arrests two Stepanakert residents on suspicion of espionage

In a statement released Saturday, the Nagorno Karabakh Investigative Committee said “two residents of Stepanakert city established contact with agents of the Azerbaijani intelligence agencies” and regularly relayed classified information, including top secret data, in exchange for money.
Authorities said the suspects conveyed information on Nagorno Karabakh’s economy, the security of citizens, the social programs in response to the blockade, the changes happening in the composition of the government, the presidential orders and other information relating to the population - actions that constitute “high treason.”
The law enforcement agency did not mention how the suspects gained access to top secret information.
Both suspects are charged with high treason and are being held in custody.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107207.html

Russia, Belarus barred from upcoming Yerevan European Weightlifting Championships 2023 by EWF

The men’s and women’s teams of Russia and Belarus were not included in the final entry list of nations by the EWF.
The EWF European Weightlifting Championships 2023 are scheduled to take place 15-23 April in Yerevan, Armenia.
In 2022, the EWF indefinitely banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in its events. Russia and Belarus nonetheless submitted bids to participate in the Yerevan championships but the EWF turned them down.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107020.html

As a result of the Lernakert excavations, burials attributed to the phase of transition from the middle bronze to the late bronze were discovered.

Burials attributed to the phase of transition from the Middle Bronze to the Late Bronze Age (2nd half of the 16th century - 1st half of the 15th century BC) were opened, in which both the Middle Bronze Age Red Berd and the Late Bronze Age objects were found. These tombs of the transitional phase (Middle Bronze to Late Bronze) have a retaining wall-cromlech with a diameter of 5-15 meters. The cells are underground, oriented north-south. In the burials attributed to different phases of the Late Bronze Age, the remains were placed in the ways of burial and reburial. Accompanying possessions in these tombs are shells, rarely beads. The tombs belonging to the early Iron Age have retaining wall-cromlechs (8-20 m square), low mounds made of small stones and east-west facing slab cells. Group burials were documented in the Lower Iron Age tombs. It was discovered
On the eastern slope of the hill of the Iron Age fortress Vari Berd, a "wheel-shaped" structure consisting of other adjacent circular structures was confirmed by aerial photography. "Wheel" structures are famous in Armenia in the foothills of Aragats, where they are found in the context of monuments called "desert kites". Remains of the "Spinal" structure were also documented in the highest ancient site of Aragats Mountain, Karmir Sar, where excavations revealed a collection of dragon stone carvings in their original environment. The example of Lernakert is special in that it is documented for the first time in the context of the castle. However, the latter's function is not yet clear.
The Lernakert excavations are important in terms of the study of the Early Bronze Age society. In particular, the research of the ancient DNA of Lernakert has received a wide response, which shows that the skeletons discovered in burials made at the same time, but in different tomb groups, had no family ties. It proves that different superstitions lived in the communities.
The study of the dynamics of changes in the early Bronze Age landscape of Lernakert makes it possible to follow the formation and construction processes of the defense system with the data of two fortresses in one complex. Due to the combination of data from Lernakert burial site with data from Artik, Harichi, Horom, Mastara, Talin and Lchashen, the processes of formation of complex societies in the Late Bronze Age can be outlined. Groups of privileged people, soldiers, religious servants and merchants are noted in castles and burial grounds.
Articles on the results of the excavations were published in Armenian and foreign periodicals, reported both at local and foreign scientific conferences.
The Lernakert archaeological expedition was co-financed by the Shirak Armenological Research Center of the NAS of RA, the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the NAS of RA, the State Committee of Science and the National Association for Armenological Research and Studies (NAASR) within the framework of the theme "Trends of the Bronze Age landscape transformation of the northwestern slopes of Aragats Mountain".
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1107376.html

The President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received the Chairman of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan.

"I think the most important function of the Constitutional Court and the Presidency is to be able to monitor how well the Constitution works and is preserved in the Republic of Armenia. I would like to continue our conversation on this topic so that in the future we can decide where we have shortcomings, where we can make it more efficient and most importantly, do it together. I would also like to know your opinion in that regard," said Vahagn Khachaturyan.
Expressing his gratitude for the reception, Arman Dilanyan emphasized that the primary duty of the president is to follow the protection of the Constitution.
"In my opinion, it is the most important function of the presidential institution according to our Constitution. In other words, when we read the Constitution, the very first article is about the institution of the president, according to which the president follows the observance of the Constitution. It is not declaratory, it implies very specific powers. "It is the institution of the president that can fully highlight the national problems, analyzing these problems from an objective point of view and presenting them to the Constitutional Court as well," said the President of the Supreme Court.
During the meeting, Arman Dilanyan presented to the President of the Republic the ongoing reforms in the Constitutional Court and the programs of upcoming events. During the conversation, it was emphasized on both sides that the close cooperation of the Presidential Institute and the High Court and the harmony of the agendas of the two constitutional bodies guarantee the normal and uninterrupted functioning of the state bodies in the country.
During the conversation, reference was made to raising awareness about the activities of the Constitutional Court in social, educational and other spheres, raising awareness among citizens about the functions of the Constitutional Court.
A number of issues related to the training and training of personnel in the judicial system, the process and principles of recruitment were also discussed.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1107322.html

SC Secretary Armen Grigoryan had working meetings in Tallinn

The Secretary of the Security Council presented the security threats of Armenia to his colleagues, in particular, the possible escalation by Azerbaijan towards Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The parties emphasized the security cooperation between Armenia and Estonia, as well as the processes of strengthening democracy in Armenia.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1107411.html

With the efforts of the Pan-Armenian Youth Football Association, 6 young football players from different countries will come to Armenia

The events are held in cooperation with the Football Federation of Armenia.
During the evening, world champion Yuri Dzhorkaef, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, FFA president Armen Melikbekyan sent video messages. National team football player Yura Movsisyan, SADA Systems president Hovig Safoyan, Arpinet LLC executive director Armen Muradyan, entrepreneurs, coaches who contributed to the development of Armenian football, football players, football fans took part in the event.
During his short visit to the USA, Hakob Arshakyan also met with the members of The Armenian Society of fellows council, scientists and entrepreneurs, and discussed the prospects of scientific and technological development of Armenia.
Meetings were also held with the head of the Los Angeles City Council, Paul Krekorian, community representatives, and a wide range of issues of bilateral interest were discussed.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1107364.html

Ruling Civil Contract faction nominates Anahit Manasyan for Human Rights Defender

The post of the Human Rights Defender has been vacant since Kristinne Grigoryan resigned in late January.
Everyone having attained the age of 25, enjoying high authority within the public, having higher education, having been a citizen of solely the Republic of Armenia for the preceding four years, permanently residing in the Republic of Armenia for the preceding four years, and having the right of suffrage, as well as having command of the Armenian language may be elected to the office of the Defender.
According to law, the Defender shall be elected by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, upon recommendation of the competent standing committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, by at least three fifths of votes of the total number of the members of the Parliament, for a term of six years.
The Defender shall assume office immediately after having been elected by the National Assembly by taking an oath.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/28/ruling-civil-contract-faction-nominates-anahit-manasyan-for-human-rights-defende

Armenian FM discusses regional developments with the Ambassador of Spain

During the meeting the interlocutors exchanged views on topics related to regional security and stability. Minister Mirzoyan touched upon Azerbaijan’s actions, including the recent aggressions againts the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the rhetoric at the highest level and the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, emphasizing that such actions of Azerbaijan do not contribute to Armenia’s efforts to establish lasting peace in the region. Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the importance of lifting the blockade of the Lachin corridor as well as the importance of sending an international fact-finding mission to the corridor.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/28/armenian-fm-discusses-regional-developments-with-the-ambassador-of-spain/

Armenia, Cyprus play a 2-2 draw in a friendly: Grant-Leon Ranos scores a brace

https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/28/armenia-cyprus-play-a-2-2-draw-in-a-friendly-grant-leon-ranos-scores-a-brace/

Armenia loses 1 - 2 against turkey in Euro Qualifier

https://www.espn.com/soccematch/_/gameId/655264

Dr Sophie Scamps raises Artsakh blockade in Australian Federal Parliament

Dr Scamps said, “A couple of weeks ago, I was treated to a surprise visit in my electorate office by students of the AGBU Alexander Primary School in Duffys Forest in my electorate of Mackellar. AGBU is an independent, co-educational, bilingual English and Armenian Christian school. While I’m absolutely delighted to have received a visit from these year 5 and 6 students, they came with a very serious message. The students presented me with a letter they had written, asking me to address the Australian parliament on a very important matter: the ongoing blockade of the Lachin corridor in Artsakh since 12 December 2022, as part of the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
“The Lachin corridor is a road that connects the Republic of Artsakh to the Republic of Armenia. The letter went on to explain how the supply of food and medicine is running dangerously low as a result of the blockade, and gas supply between Armenia and Artsakh has been cut off.”
“There is a vibrant Armenian community in my electorate of Mackellar, and I’ve had many representations from those people in addition to the schoolchildren. On their behalf, I have made representations to Foreign Minister Wong’s office about this ongoing crisis and met with foreign department specialists to discuss the matter. The crisis affecting the people of Artsakh must not be forgotten or overlooked while the world is distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
ANC-AU Executive Director Michael Kolokossian welcomed the advocacy efforts undertaken by the Year 5 and Year 6 students of AGBU Alexander Primary School.
“During this difficult time, every Armenian-Australian must be advocating for an end to this illegal blockade. It is heartening to see the youngest members of our community play a key role in standing up for their homeland.”
“We thank Dr Scamps for engaging with the Armenian-Australian community and bringing this issue to the floor of parliament. Her principled stance is greatly appreciated as we work to end this blockade,” added Kolokossian.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/28/dr-sophie-scamps-raises-artsakh-blockade-in-australian-federal-parliament/

Farmers in Artsakh targeted by Azerbaijani forces

The report states that at 11:30 a.m. on March 27, Alyosha Zakaryan, the chief specialist of the Martakert region of the Artsakh Republic’s State Inspections Management Committee, reported to the regional police department that March 26, the enemy targeted them in the administrative area of Martakert city. about firing erratically.
The police officers found out that on the same day around 11:30 a.m., while doing agricultural work in the pomegranate orchard belonging to the State Inspections Management Committee in the administrative area of Martakert city, Azerbaijani combat positions fired irregular shots from rifle weapons at the workers.
No one was hurt. Agricultural work was stopped. The police passed the information on to the Russian peacekeeping troops.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/27/farmers-in-artsakh-targeted-by-azerbaijani-forces-3/

Armenia participates in International Agroindustrial Food Fair in Cuba

Armenia showcases agricultural products, brandy and wines at the event.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/24/armenia-participates-in-international-agroindustrial-food-fair-in-cuba/

Sarsang water levels dropping at alarming rate amid blockade, Artsakh authorities say

Since January 9 Azerbaijan has been barring Nagorno Karabakh authorities from accessing and repairing the damaged power transmission line which supplies Nagorno Karabakh with electricity from Armenia.
“The only source of electricity we have now is the Sarsang Reservoir,” Ararat Khachatryan, the acting chairman of the Water Committee of Artsakh said.
“The water levels are over eight meters lower compared to the same period last year. Today the inflow is 4 cumecs, which is a very low indicator. The Tartar flow can reach up to thirty, forty or fifty cumecs. The consumption is a lot higher now. When water levels are high, less water is actually consumed for obtaining electricity, but when the water levels drop, pressure also drops and it takes more water to get the same amount of electricity,” Khachatryan explained.
“Since January 9, Azerbaijan has been impeding and barring us from carrying out repair works in the territory under its control where the high-voltage electricity transmission line supplying Artsakh from Armenia passes. Before the blockade, especially in winters, when the electricity supplied from Armenia was insufficient, we were using the Sarsang Reservoir. After the war we are left with only five small HPPs in Artsakh, which work only under 20% capacity,” Khachatryan said, warning that if the power line doesn’t get fixed soon there will be insufficient water levels in Sarsang.
Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan earlier warned that the significant decrease of water resources in Sarsang Reservoir (which had a capacity of 600,000,000 cubic meters) will lead to a serious crisis in spring and summer first of all for the Azerbaijani farmers themselves because the water resources won’t be sufficient enough for irrigating the 96,000 hectares in Azerbaijan’s Tartar, Aghdam, Bardi, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Akhjabad regions. The Artsakh authorities said that the residents of these regions should be aware that they won’t have irrigation water and will subsequently lose income and harvest thanks to their own authorities and the self-proclaimed “eco-activists”.
https://en.armradio.am/2023/03/17/sarsang-water-levels-dropping-at-alarming-rate-amid-blockade-artsakh-authorities-say/

Artsakh's human rights defender had meetings in the Uruguayan parliament

Gegham Stepanyan thanked the members of the friendship group and the forum for the efforts invested in protecting the interests of Armenia and Artsakh, as well as raising awareness of the current situation in Artsakh.
During the discussions, reference was made to the policy of ethnic hatred conducted by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh and the works being carried out to counteract it, as well as the issues related to the involvement and expected support of the international community in the direction of lifting the ongoing blockade. Further steps of cooperation in the specified directions were discussed.
link

Japanese sakura flowers will blossom in Yerevan (for some reason)

The Japanese Embassy in Armenia on Tuesday approved the funding program for the renovation of a building where the “Khikari” Armenian-Japanese Cultural Center will function. The $120,000 grant program is called “Khikari Center Improvement Project.”
“The preparation for the project took three years, but I am confident that nice and good dreams always come true if you continue to wait and believe,” she noted.
Piliposyan also extended her thanks to all supporters, which include the Armenian MFA, Ministry of Culture, Government-Affiliated Charitable Project Coordination Commission and, of course, Japan.
The aforesaid building will be allocated for fifteen years and free of charge. The Center also will have a small Japanese style garden. Moreover, they already have promised to bring Japanese sakura (cherry blossom) flower seedlings to Armenian capital city Yerevan.
The renovation is scheduled to be completed by the year’s end.
https://news.am/eng/news/146489.html

Illegal building being done next to this building in Yerevan

link

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Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
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Chapter 13: Clockwork Doll
Apple let out a snort as he plodded along the uneven dirt lane. Whether it was the rapidly degrading quality of the roads or the new company he found himself in that was the source of his ire, I would never know.
Beside us was Coppelia, walking at an easy pace despite the many sacks she was swinging. Swinging. Not carrying. She didn't sling those sacks of loot over her back like some overworked mule, but swung them as she walked like a young girl toying with a basket of flowers in the meadows.
It was a ridiculous sight. A girl keeping up with a trotting horse while also carrying more than the animal's burden. Granted, as a work horse, Apple was no galloping steed. He went as fast as he wanted. And that was very slow.
Still, I had to accept the slight on Apple's image. The horse could not have carried the extra weight. He lacked the bridle necessary to pull a cart. And while I'm certain I would have fashioned a solution, I wasn't one to reject the appeasement of commoners.
Thus, girl on foot.
Or rather, a clockwork doll.
“You know, you've been staring for a while,” said Coppelia, turning to show the giant golden key sticking out of her back. “Go on. Want to touch it?”
She didn't look the slightest bit shy. And I didn't act the slightest bit incurious.
It'd take a level of ignorance neither of us possessed to pretend that she wasn't an extreme rarity in this kingdom. Only a few workshops possessed the knowledge, technical and magical expertise to build clockwork dolls. And none of them were in Tirea.
The fabrication process required to create one was said to be so demanding that it was always clear when a doll was being built. Sales of coffee beans boomed.
And now I fully understood why.
A girl whose beauty almost rivalled mine. Almost. She looked my age, or perhaps a year younger. A sweet and dignified appearance, yet she had a spritely smile full of mischief … as well as cogs, sprockets and gears.
Seeing such a marvel of engineering before me, I now fully understood what I had to do.
… I had to build my own!
What was this?! Not only was she pretty. But she was strong! She couldn't just carry tea cups. She could carry me! With someone like that by my side, I wouldn't need to work an extra day in my life!
“M-May I?” I replied, urging Apple to slide over as I reached down for the golden key. “Do I just … touch it?”
“Sure. Just make sure you don't turn it.”
“I see … and what would occur should I accidentally turn it?”
Coppelia puffed up her cheeks, then popped the air.
“Boom.”
My hand froze. I looked at Coppelia.
She didn't correct herself.
“Per … Perhaps it's better if I don't,” I said, swiftly uprighting myself on the saddle. “Besides, you're hardly some plaything to be prodded and poked. I apologise for my less than discreet ogling. Clockwork dolls are not known to visit Tirea.”
“I bet. I mean, who'd want to visit this tiny kingdom out in the boonies?”
I almost choked on my response, such was the speed at which my indignation sought to leave my lips.
No matter how wonderful this invention of engineering was, that didn't give her a blank cheque to disregard my kingdom like some downtrodden restaurant!
“T-Tiny?! The … The boonies?! Miss—”
“Coppelia.”
“Coppelia! This is a majestic kingdom, graced with verdant fields and enterprising scholars! I assure you, there is nothing tiny or … or boonie-like about this rich land!”
“Really? My memory core must be out of whack. It says the Kingdom of Tirea is the second smallest independent nation-state by surface area on this continent, and that it's gross economic output—”
“Shhshhshhshh!! This … This kingdom holds treasures beyond the definition of crowns and industry. We measure prosperity in different ways. In culture. In harmony. And in peace.”
“You were attacked by bandits five minutes ago.”
“A most unfortunate and poorly timed coincidence that doesn't reflect the safe and harmonious nature of this kingdom.”
Coppelia giggled, delicately bringing up the back of her hand to hide her lips … all the while still gripping those huge sacks.
Such brutish strength! It was … marvellous!
Imagine if I had such a useful attendant by my side! The next time Roland hid behind a door to frighten me, I could order her to rip the door off and launch it and him through the nearest window! The possibilities were endless!
“Unfortunate and poorly timed coincidences are the domain of Ouzelia, actually. It's pretty much our trademark, and we guard it zealously. I'm afraid you can't have that.”
Her words could have been written as jest, but her tone was anything but.
“I see. My tutors always said that Ouzelia was a land of splendour and opportunity, and that its freedoms exceeded even that of Tirea.”
“A rotten lie. What did they actually say?”
“That it was full of oddballs and I should stay away.”
“Much better.” Coppelia twirled as she took her next steps forwards, swinging the sacks perilously close to Apple's side as she spun. “Ah, Ouzelia, where dragons roam the skies and there exists no fiction in fairytales. Humans live with ogres. Ogres live with goblins. Goblins live with … well, nobody since they're kinda grouchy. How are the ones here?”
I gave it a moment's thought, then decided to answer honestly.
“Still grouchy.”
“Goblins, eh?”
“Goblins.”
I nodded, needing to say little else.
At least ours were fiercely isolationist. As were our ogre clans. Such a mixing of cultures could never be considered in Tirea, where few non-natives other than the odd troll caravan or questing minotaur could be found passing through our towns and villages.
Then again—
As I stole a glance at the girl alternating between walking and skipping beside me, at the heavy sacks in her hands, and the large golden key protruding from her back, I couldn't help but think that even a dragon probably wasn't as rare as a princess and a clockwork doll passing through our streets together, either.
“Have you been searching for this missing book for long? I'm curious how much time you've spent wandering the kingdom.”
“Waaay too long. These shoes weren't made for walking. But books are hard to find. Especially the one I'm after. Alas, if only I had a different job. My sisters, they got jobs like cleaning bookcases. How wonderful is that? Books always get lost. But bookcases? If that's all I had to do, I'd be able to relax at the—”
“I understand!”
“Eh?”
A flush of excitement ran through me as I seized on the opportunity at once.
Ohhoho! Indeed, rejoice, fair clockwork maiden! No insinuation was lost on me!
As a princess trained in the art of reading cues and desires, I was adept at understanding the words between the lines as keenly as a conductor sensed the notes weaving amongst a grand sonata.
And my instincts were telling me ... that she wished to serve under me as my personal attendant!
“A-Ahem, if cleaning is something you wish to experience, I can offer you a position as attendant. You see, I happen to have left my previous residence without any. Therefore, you may be at ease, as from now, I will declare you to be my sole—”
“I refuse.”
“Geh?!”
My jaw dropped at the abruptness of her rejection.
Could … Could it be that I was wrong? Or perhaps I'd pressed her too suddenly? True, it was only natural to react with inappropriate modesty when presented with such an envied position as the personal attendant to a princess. There were rivalries to consider. New enemies to watch. Old allies to turn. To become my sole attendant was to make one's social debut in high society. Even a maid could be elevated to the lowest rungs of lower nobility by adopting such an exclusive role.
Hmm?
But wasn't I forgetting something?
Ah, but of course! She didn't know I was a princess!
“I refuse,” she repeated cheerfully. “Thank you for the offer. But I've no need for a mistress. My loyalty is to my library.”
A bizarre croak exited my mouth as a thousand responses amalgamated into one.
I … I couldn't tell her!
I was supposed to be incognito, not hiring new employees!
“Sooo, well-dressed, haughty girl who wants an attendant ... is it just 'Juliette'? Or is there a 'High Ladyship' or 'Her Revered Countess, Holy Destroyer of Unwanted Beetles' title somewhere in there as well?”
I winced.
Partly because my masterful disguise as a titleless 'Juliette' was clearly not enough to hide the fact I was simply far too dignified to pass as anything less than nobility. But also because she'd just butchered our entire peerage system in one single sentence.
“Those are not titles.”
“My cunning word trap worked. So, nobility?”
“Undisclosed.”
Coppelia raised an eyebrow.
“Royalty?”
“............”
Hmm?
What … What was that?
Was that … sweat? Why was I sweating? How long had I been riding for? When had sitting in a saddle been such a taxing activity on me?
“U-Undisclosed ...”
For a moment, Coppelia had the look of someone who wished to make an unnecessary comment. I was relieved when she didn't.
… She didn't suspect!
Really now. That was too close. And the fault lay entirely with me.
It was vexing, but the truth is that I didn't enjoy parading myself as anything less than a princess. To do away with my title was difficult enough. But to adopt another was quite another. I needed to find a compromise … eventually.
Eventually.
Meaning ... there was no rush!
I had no need to dive straight into the details of my subterfuge, did I? Once I picked an identity, I'd need to actively utilise it or risk being outed. I couldn't have that. A poor identity was more suspicious than having none. It'd undermine everything!
Therefore, the best thing to do was to disclose nothing. The less I spoke about my background, the less anyone would suspect I was a princess. If anyone asked me if I was Juliette Contzen, 3rd Princess to the Kingdom of Tirea, I could simply refuse to answer and they'd be none the wiser.
Ohohoho! Genius.
Why make things harder? Sometimes, less truly was more.
“To answer slightly more, I can't offer myself for any role other than that which I'm already sworn to do. My purpose is to search for unreturned books. That means I'm forbidden from washing the dishes of any ladies of high standing. Or putting on their socks. That one is specifically ruled out.”
I nodded, taking the loss of a potential handmaiden with good grace.
… Ohhhohoho!! Until next time, of course!
Fortunes waver and ambitions stir. When this girl wished to seek a rewarding new career path in the exciting world of courtly backstabbing, treachery and betrayal, I'd ensure that the door remained open.
“I see. A terrible shame. Nevertheless, I applaud your loyalty to your library. Indeed, by refusing my first offer, you passed the first test to becoming my personal attendant. Should you wish to continue this application, you may do so at any time.”
She connected her thumb and index finger into a circle and smiled lazily.
“O-kay~”
I contented myself with that somewhat lackadaisical response. It lacked the dirt eating grovelling that I usually received when overseeing prospective hires … but I was nothing if not mildly flexible!
When it came to receiving a promising new attendant who could carry my extensive wardrobe wherever I pleased, I was willing to bide my time.
In fact, if she could display such wonderful strength, would that not also make her an excellent candidate to be a bodyguard? If so, that'd make her a two-for-one attendant! I'd be the envy of the soirée!
“By any chance, does your prodigious ability to carry large weights hint towards how you defend yourself in this peaceful and harmonious land?”
“Hmm?” Coppelia looked down, then blinked at the sacks in her hands. “Oh, this? This is nothing.”
“I disagree! … Hence why I note that you carry no weapons on your person, and yet you're able to traverse the perilous wilds that exist between Ouzelia and Tirea. Tell me, would you happen to be proficient in overcoming physical confrontations?”
“My, my, my … what are you implying? I have my feminine wiles and girlish charms. What else do I need to travel the wide world?”
Coppelia flicked her fluffy golden hair and gave a smile as radiant as the sunshine.
I was appalled.
Who did this girl think she was? Me?
Clearly, she had to boast martial skill or magical ability. Not everyone possessed a princess's charisma. And for all the confidence in her smile, that also included her.
“Charm and wit is not enough to negotiate the dangers that pervade this world, unless you're me. Everyone else requires the knowledge of a scholar and the intuition of a rogue. To challenge, to compromise, or to flee based on coldly evaluating every morsel of insight available to you. This is the trifecta of choices one must continually master in order to overcome foes who wish to force victory through brute force alone.”
Coppelia nodded, interest sparkling in her turquoise eyes as she had the politeness to feign the correct amount of being intrigued. A valuable skill set. My tutors would be pleased.
“I see, I see … but what if your foe isn't someone who wants to talk or fight?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what if it's say, a blight? How would you overcome that?”
“A blight?”
“A blight affecting crops and pastures, a faceless enemy with no notion of negotiation or belligerence. That'd be pretty tricky, wouldn't it? I just want to know where on the manual that is.”
I tilted my head slightly.
It was a concept I had to wrap my head around. To be frank, something which didn't try to sully my reputation or outright assassinate me wouldn't truly count as a foe.
At least not until I saw the first inklings of withering intruding upon the corner of my eye.
Apple came to a stop as I tugged back his reins.
Turning my gaze slowly, I took in the sight of the fields that lay ahead.
Appalling parched fields crept down from across the horizon. Beyond half-wilted lines of hedgerows and trees, a scene of death and decay promised to wait for me. The contrast to the green fields to my sides were stark.
Beyond a rotting demarcation as clear as lines in the sand, I saw a vision of the fine pastures fit for napping replaced by a barren stretch of broken livelihoods.
I couldn't believe it. Was this what was meant by failing crops?
This was beyond what I had imagined! We hadn't even entered the lowlands yet! Was this some disease in the soil? How far did it stretch? How much of our farmland was lost?
It was more morbid than anything I could have envisaged. I could literally see the trail of tax income from yield percentages to stall revenues collapsing in front of me! Each fallen stalk of wheat was another feather snatched from my pillow!
It was horrible!
Beside me, Coppelia was cheerfully humming an unknown melody.
Judging from the brightness of her tune, the state of the kingdom's collapsing grain reserves and the riots that were certain to follow ranked lower on her reasons to be concerned list than it did mine. It was not, after all, my fate that she shared. Even now, I could see a grim future where my family was forced to sell our gold framed portraits and ruby inlaid candlesticks just to appease the peasant masses.
The indignity almost knocked me off my saddle.
Awakening from my stupor, I clenched my fists and spurred Apple onwards.
It was time for Juliette Contzen, the Third Princess of the Kingdom of Tirea, to do her duty. No matter what, I would prevent a future where I was forced to degrade my quality of life. To live as though I were mere nobility.
Or worse, common-born nobility.
No blight would stand in my way.
This, I solemnly vowed.
​
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The boy next door is no longer an enigma.
No longer a mystery.
For the last few days, I have been laying low after Mrs Wilder kidnapped and threatened me in my own home. I’ve had barely any sleep and my lack of it has definitely disrupted my ability to write. I’m sorry if this update is messy or full of typos. I just don’t know what to do.
I’ve been a mess. I’ve been jumping at every movement. Every time there’s a knock on the door I feel part of myself splinter into pieces I can’t put back together. I did something crazy stupid two days ago. And that stupid mistake has fully exposed me to Mrs Wilder’s secret. What she is hiding behind her walls—and just how fucked I truly am if I disobey her again. Like I said, over the last several days I have been keeping my head down.
I went to school and did my homework and went to bed. That was it. When mom asked if I was talking to any Wilder kids, I shook my head. I had quickly grown afraid of Casper Wilder’s window. I knew something was wrong with him.
Something is wrong with his head.
He had told me. At least, the part of him which was bleeding between consciousness and a submissive state not being controlled by his psychotic mother. I saw him. I saw who he really was. I saw the boy next door crying out to me for help through bloodied fingers and cryptic messages splattered in scarlet. If he had intentionally hurt himself to get messages across to me, there was something he was fighting.
Mrs Wilder’s words were haunting me. The paper-doll rendition of me, blackened and smouldering orange between her nimble fingers-- I couldn’t get it out of my head.
So, I grabbed all the paper I could find and taped up my window, blocking him out. It sounds ridiculous. And it was. Because once I had spent over an hour feverishly taping pieces of paper over my window, I tore them down with a knot in my gut. When I clawed away the last piece of paper, I got a glimpse of Casper. His curtains were open, allowing me to see inside his room once more.
I saw a normal guy’s bedroom once again, guitars leaning against the walls, clothes strewn over the floor and sketchpads littering the bed. Warm light illuminated the window, and I wished what I was seeing was normal.
I wished I had seen nothing bad, and this was just the boy next door.
My completely normal neighbor.
But I couldn’t deny what I’d seen two nights ago. Casper Wilder wasn’t standing at his window with a twisted expression, a cocktail of pain and anger and confusion burning in mismatched eyes I was sure glinted with something metallic. Something man-made—which had been inserted, no, forced inside him.
I expected him to be awake. Even if it was just a single look in his eye which told me he was still there—still holding on. No. It was like nothing had ever happened. The window had been cleaned of blood, and there were no traces of the boy who had cried out for help. In his place was the Wilder son I had found friendship with. Before he cracked, and something inside him, something buried deep, deep, down, ignited. I missed that version of him. Who he used to be.
Because this guy was not Casper Wilder. I didn’t know who he was—and neither did he from the way he’d reacted days before. Underneath this name being forced onto him, there was nothing.
Just a broken kid with no name. No memory, except ones filled with her. I missed the personality Mrs Wilder was trying to hide. Who had told me she wasn’t his fucking mother, and sworn at me, his writing erratic and confusing, clawing into his head with this desperation to be let go.
Seeing him through the window at that moment, I realised, a sickly paste crawling up my throat, that all of that had been erased. He had returned to default. Casper was sitting on his bed playing guitar with a look of content, bed hair falling in sleepy eyes. He was wearing his glasses this time. His fingers moved up and down, feet bouncing to a beat I couldn’t hear.
Stumbling back, I tripped over my backpack with a shriek, which caught Casper’s attention.
When his head twisted around, empty eyes floating towards the window, I ducked. I couldn’t stop myself. After counting to ten, I slowly lifted my gaze.
He was still staring at me, and I noticed he’d stopped playing the guitar, fingers entangled in the strings. Casper’s smile had dimmed slightly. I wondered if seeing me brought something back. Maybe he remembered writing his own bloody messages on the window and trying and failing to speak through his mother’s control. The boy blinked at me before slowly getting to his feet. I didn’t see the chord thing this time. Casper strode over to the window, a giddy smile curling on the edges of his lips.
He pressed his palm against the glass, and I was already grabbing my notepad and a pen. But then his mother’s words sliced through my thoughts. I was back inside my lounge, foggy headed, the stink of pool cleaner still thick at the back of my nose and throat.
Mrs Wilder loomed over me, my paper-doll she had ravaged sticking from the doll-house on mom’s coffee table constructed from our letters. “I hope you understand that if you talk to, or even breathe the same air as my children again, I will rip you apart too.”
Her breath was heavy in my face. I couldn’t help looking at Mrs Becker for help, but her eyes were equally as cruel. I watched perfectly manicured nails pick up one of the four Wilder dolls, making it dance around in circles.
“Do you understand me, Phoebe?”
“Yes.” I said, my words twisted on my tongue.
“I… I understand.”
The memory was painful enough to feel physical knives digging into my gut. Mrs Wilder had made it clear that if I pursued her children, she was going to hurt me. Mom, too. I dropped my notepad and pen. Casper was still smiling at me. His eyes were vacant. He had no idea who I was after months of us talking. Mrs Wilder had taken all of it away. Including him breaking apart and waking up as a confused shell with no name. “Hello.” Casper’s lips mouthed the words, and I took several steps back, my heart in my throat.
He didn’t even blink. I watched his expression fail to flicker and wondered just how the fuck had I never noticed there was something wrong with him in the months I knew him. I watched him search his desk for a notepad and pen. Maybe seeing me was unravelling something inside him, I thought. Maybe I could try and wake him up again. At the back of my mind, however, I could still see my little paper doll’s head being torn off, its body ripped apart.
“What’s your name?” Casper had written in bubble writing. It’s like everything had been reset. His frenzied and wild eyes, that desperation to escape. Gone.
His handwriting was boiling my blood. Just looking at this perfect calligraphy which wasn’t even his. It had been forced onto him. Because Mrs Wilder expected this boy to be the perfect son, a creative prodigy like his siblings. I looked for a splinter in his eyes, just a glimpse that he was still in there. Still fighting whatever his ‘mother’ had done to him. But I saw nothing. I saw a blank fucking slate.
“Phoebe.” I mouthed.
Inclining his head, he scribbled a follow up message. “Can you write it down?”
Swallowing a lump in my throat, I shut my curtains, blocking him and his message out. Then I jumped into bed, turned off my light, and dreamed I was that paper-doll with no mouth to scream with, as Mrs Wilder slowly tore me limb from limb. The next day felt like a blur. I don’t think I snapped out of it until mom poked me with the prongs of her fork, tearing me from a scenario I was going over in my head.
If Casper was a prisoner, were his siblings too? I’d only caught a glimpse of Issac and Freddie Wilder. Mrs Wilder talked of being pregnant with four children. But she spoke like she had lost them. So, my guess was that she had kidnapped four teenager’s in their place—and was raising them as her dead children. “Are you okay, honey?”
Mom’s voice slid through my thoughts, and I realised I had been pushing my pasta around my plate. I wasn’t really hungry.
Mom had made this sort of red pepper spaghetti, but every time I tried to take a mouthful, I was seeing spatters of scarlet running from Casper’s temples, dripping down his face and smudged on the glass of his window. THUD. The image of him slamming his head into the pane, wild eyes and twisted lips, an agonising panic bringing him to the edge of hysteria caught me off guard, and my fork slipped through my fingers, tomato sauce slowly creeping its way back up my throat.
Fuck. I couldn’t forget about him. I couldn’t leave him and block him out after his mother had threatened me. Because if I didn’t help him, who would? It was my word against the town.
Mom cleared her throat
“Phoebe, are you listening to me?”
“Huh?”
“I said, have you been abiding by the rules?” Mom twirled pasta around her fork and took a dainty bite. Since joining Mrs Becker’s book club I had noticed a certain gleam in her eye. Like she was looking through me. “You haven’t been talking to the Wilder children, have you?”
“No.”
After three mouthfuls of spaghetti, I ended up with half of my dinner dripping down my face.
Mom grabbed a napkin, handing it to me. “Clean yourself up. You are seventeen, not seven.” Her expression softened. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
“Yes.” I said, struggling to appear it. I knew she could see my sleep circles.
“Have you been talking to the Wilder kids? I’ll know if you have.”
Technically, I had been communicating with him. But it was one-sided.
Still though, paranoia turned my thoughts against me. Shovelling down spaghetti, I spoke through a mouthful. “No.”
She handed me another napkin. “So, if I talk to Mrs Wilder…”
“Mom.” I grabbed her hand, squeezing it for dear life. Mrs Wilder knew, I thought dizzily. She must have known Casper’s attempt to talk to me, even if he was exactly who she wanted him to be. Still under her demented control. But it was confusing me just how she had that control. This wasn’t a movie or a TV show.
Mind control didn’t exist, right? And if it did, it was barely even a thing—induced by cocktails of drugs and torture. Casper didn’t look like he’d been tortured.
Except that thing inside his head… my thoughts grew foggy, and I was suddenly overcome with emotion. What I meant to tell her was all about what I had seen, and what Mrs Wilder had done to me. Though knowing what the woman was capable of, and thinking about that chord-like thing which surely had been forced into the back of Casper Wilder’s skull… “Can we just…move?” I choked out. “I want to move. I hate it here.” I gestured around.
“I hate this house. It’s too big, I feel like I’m lost every time I go upstairs. I hate school. The kids there freak me out.” Holding her gaze, I curled my lip. “And I hate our stupid neighbors.”
“Phoebe.” Mom’s tone darkened. “What did I tell you about being respectful?”
“It’s not like they can hear us!” I spat. “Did they fit cameras in here, mom? I wouldn’t be surprised! We’re under draconian rules!”
“Young lady, you are acting like a child.” She said stiffly. “Take several deep breaths and tell me what is wrong.”
“I’m fine.” I whispered.
“No, you are not.” Mom sipped red wine. “I know when there is something wrong with my daughter, and you cannot look me in the eye.”
I took a sharp breath and forced myself to stay calm. “Mom.” I sputtered through a sob. “It’s Mrs Wilder. She… she did something to me.”
Mom’s expression twisted. “What?”
“The other night,” I forced out. The images were flooding my head. Smouldering orange tearing its way through paper white. “She knocked me out, and she had this… dollhouse. And four paper dolls.”
I heaved out a breath. “She threatened me, mom. Mrs Wilder threatened me, and I need you to believe me.” I grabbed for her hand again, my own trembling. “Casper Wilder is not her son.” I said. The words felt foreign on my tongue. Wrong. They felt like a time bomb. “I think she kidnapped him. All of them. And she’s brainwashed them into thinking they’re her real kids.” There was a pause, and my mom’s expression didn’t change. So, I continued. “We need to call the police.” I reiterated. “Okay? You’re listening to me, aren’t you?” I swallowed sobs wracking my chest. “Because… you’re my mom. And you’re supposed to believe me.”
She surprised me with an eye-roll. “You are being ridiculous.”
THUD.
It felt like the walls were suddenly closing in. I could smell the stink of pool cleaner and Mrs Wilder’s perfume intoxicating my senses.
THUD.
I was seeing Casper slamming his head into his window once again, his eyes alive with a light I couldn’t understand. Like something was entwined inside his pupil.
THUD.
“Help me.”
God, it wouldn’t stop.
His voice. It was driving me crazy.
“I don’t know who I am.” Casper’s sobs echoed. “I don’t… I don’t fucking know who I am! I can’t remember… I can’t remember who I am!”
I could see his words clear in my mind, red scrawled against white until they were barely readable.
WHO.
AM.
I?
WHO AM I? WHO AM I? WHO AM I? I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM. THAT WOMAN IS NOT MY MOM.
I was going to be sick.
“Mom,” The words were choking from my mouth before I could stop them. I didn’t mean to sound so childlike, but that is exactly what I felt like. A child. I was alone. Drowning.
Looking at my mother’s curled lips, her eyes burning right through me, I felt myself start to come apart.
Like that stupid doll.
“Mom, please—”
She cut me off with a snort. “What? Is this because you're not allowed to talk to the boy next door? You’re creating your own narrative, and it’s… endearing. Childlike, but you are a child after all." Mom chuckled. “Sweetie, I know you love your mysteries, and sure, I can understand the cliché Romeo and Juliet thing going on, but really, there are plenty more fish in the sea. You don’t have to make up ridiculous scenarios.”
I let go of her hand, my toes curling. They didn’t sound like her words. They were someone else’s.
What was she talking about, ridiculous scenarios? Did my mother really think I was capable of imagining all of this shit?
I couldn’t reply. Not when part of me wondered if these were even her words. I had a strong suspicion my mom was just a puppet.
Like someone was talking through her.
“Do you like him?” Mom pressed. In her eyes, I could see Mrs Wilder was asking that question. “Is that why you’re being so… “ She trailed off with a sigh, and I glimpsed her fingers tighten around her wine glass, pressing enough pressure to leave marks on the rim. “Difficult?”
Mom’s lips splintered into a grin which wasn’t hers, and something inside me snapped. She was joking around.
When Casper was suffering, a prisoner of his own mind, my mother was treating me like I was fucking love-sick.
"No!" I shook my head. “No, I want to move.” I whispered. “I want to go back to our old house.”
“That’s not going to happen, sweetie. You know I can’t just leave my job. Phoebe, you’re a senior at school. You have SAT’S.”
“But—"
Her expression softened. “You’ll grow to like it. Don’t worry.” She said, before standing up and carrying our plates to the faucet. “I have a late shift tonight, so I expect your best behaviour.” I barely felt mom press a kiss to my forehead.
Her presence felt strange, like I wasn’t even seeing my mother. After what she said, I was sure her words were being pupiteered. When mom went to work, after yelling that there were leftovers on the counter, I was left with the soundtrack of a stupid dripping tap, and our humming refrigerator. I made several promises to myself in the time I was in the kitchen.
I would save Casper and his siblings, and then I’d force mom to drive all of us out of town. There were logistics I didn’t want to think about. These were feverish thoughts which controlled me. I had to get them out of that house. Time seemed to go by slowly. When I lifted my head from where I’d been staring at leftover meatballs I dropped onto the table, my phone vibrated in my jeans. Pulling it out, there was a DM regarding my post I wrote on here.
I read it. Then I read it again and again until I could process it.
“Film it. Literally get evidence of what is going on with Casper. You need people to believe you. And if people are going to believe you, you need to make a scene. If you want that house stormed, make as much noise as possible. I know it sounds stupid, but think about it like this. All you need is attention. Mrs Wilder can’t hide from the world if you show the world what’s going on. Good luck, Phoebe. Please be safe.”
-- A friend.
I was shaking when I knocked on the Wilder’s door fifteen minutes later. I knew exactly how to cause a scene.
Mrs Wilder answered, her expression cross between frustrated and bewildered. But I could barely focus on her, or the fact that she was holding a ladle like a weapon. The second the door opened revealing Casper’s mom drowning in a homely golden light, something slammed into me. Nothing physical, though it might as well have been. I forced myself to breathe through the stink which hit me like a brick to the face, suffocating my nose and mouth. Lavender. Not just lavender. The expensive flowers mom would get grocery shopping.
The ones which made me sneeze when I leaned too close. The house stunk of flowers—and that was just from standing on the threshold. But I knew better. I knew, once sweet smelling salts and flowers entwined in my senses, that the stink was to cover something up. And the more I edged closer over the threshold, the true smell of the Wilder house began to snake into my nose. Rot. I had once left a donut under my bed as a kid as an experiment to see if I could grow a whole new species. But this wasn’t mouldy food. It was far more potent. More like a decaying animal.
“Phoebe!” Mrs Wilder folded her arms across her apron. “I’m sorry, were my instructions not clear?” She cocked her head, an amused smile curving on her lips. She was triumphant, knowing exactly how to get under my skin. “Are you aware of what a restraining order is?”
Ignoring the smell choking the air, I held up my phone. “I’m live on Instagram.” I said. “Can I come in?”
I’m not sure why, but seeing her cheeks turn white made me feel like I was the one in control. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Live.” I repeated with a cheery wave. “On Instagram.”
I expected her to shove me back, or call out my bluff (yes, I was bluffing). Instead though, the women’s resolve seemed to crumble, her expression twisting, fear igniting in her eyes. She stammered for a moment, her gaze flashing to my phone before she wrapped her arms around herself and seemed to force a nod. “This is my house.” Her voice came out in a hiss.
Mrs Wilder was talking straight to the camera, and clearly faking terror. “Phoebe Daly, this is far past your usual games. This is… this is trespassing! Do you hear me? I’m calling the police!” Mrs Wilder didn’t call the police.
She held her phone to her ear but didn’t dare dial a number. I could see her options flitting across her eyes.
Was she going to attack me, or play it cool? Playing it cool, it was. With a face like thunder, she stumbled aside when I took a step forward and asked to be let inside. I wasn’t live on Instagram. I had barely 10 followers.
But she didn’t know that. Instead of being live, I was filming everything with my normal phone camera, angled at a height so she couldn’t slap it out of my hands. Watching her stumble back, panic twisting her expression into fury and frustration filled me with satisfaction. I had her. The crazy witch really thought I was streaming. I used that to my advantage, making sure to commentate to my imaginary audience as she led me down the main hallway, and I made sure to point the camera at everything I could see. Kids photographs covered neat paintwork.
But they were all different young children taken from a distance. Towards the end of the hall, what I saw did send my heart into my gut. And for a moment—just a brief second—I actually felt sympathy for Casper’s mom.
Four ultrasound’s.
I didn’t let the camera linger on them, instead going to the woman herself, who was following me, trying and failing to stall my effort to delve further inside the house. She stepped in front of me with a huff. “Phoebe. That is enough! You have terrorised me to no end!” her voice rose into a whine. “Whoever you are, Phoebe’s friends! This brat is targeting my children!”
“Casper!” I yelled, ignoring her. “Are you there?”
No answer.
My heart dropped into my gut, though I wasn’t giving up. I had the advantage, and I had to play to it.
“Casper!”
I ran up the first few steps leading upstairs, but Mrs Wilder seemed far too focused on shielding the door at the end of the hall.
“What’s in the kitchen?” I asked with a lump in my throat. Backing down the stairs, I made my way towards her.
“Nothing is in the kitchen!” she spat back, feigning innocence. “We’re having dinner if you must know. And you are ruining it!”
I shook my head. “This is Mrs Wilder,” I announced, pointing the phone at her. “She is holding four teenagers against their will and claiming them as her own children.” I said smoothly. When we reached a sliding glass door leading into the kitchen, I grabbed the handle with force.
Her rough hand slammed over mine, claw-like fingernails slicing my flesh. “Get out of my house,” she said stiffly. “Young lady, you are trespassing on my property.” Every word came out in globules of saliva hitting me in the face. “I have never met such a disruptive and outright disrespectful child without discipline. Your mother should be ashamed of herself.” She shot a nervous look at my phone camera.
“Where’s Mrs Becker?” I asked.
“What?”
Mrs Becker.” I repeated. “She helped you kidnap and scare me into staying quiet the other day. So, where is she?”
She spluttered, clearly caught off guard. “You are delusional!”
“Then show me them.” I said, pointing the camera at the door. “Your children, Mrs Wilder. I want you to show me Issac, Matilda, Freddie, and…” I swallowed hard. “And Casper.” Ignoring her steel grasp on the door handle, I pulled it open, trying to ignore the sudden squawking noise which had escaped her mouth, slamming into my ears. I can’t describe it. Mom has spoken about a mother instinct, and I wonder if it truly was that. This was animalistic. Feral.
Immediately, Mrs Wilder was behind me like a beast, her trembling arms trying to grasp hold of me and drag me back violently. But I was stronger, and desperate. I had to know the Wilder's secret. Stepping over the threshold, I was first aware of a far dimmer light. And when I fully focused on the room, I realised I was seeing candlelight. In front of me was a hardwood dining room table, and five chairs—four of which were occupied. The kitchen was a copy of our own. Except ours had always been lit up and bright.
It felt more like I was stepping inside a cave. An orangeade blur illuminated each face. Three out of four bodies sat stiff, almost… doll like. Mechanical. The way the three were facing me. Their expressions matched perfectly. Wide eyes and wider grins splitting lips apart. I drank each Wilder kid in slowly, as my brain struggled to take in the real horror of the room. What I was failing to fully take in. I couldn’t. I don’t think I could physically understand what I was seeing. I was aware my phone had slipped from my fingers, that I was paralysed to the spot.
The smell of stink and rot, I thought.
It was them.
I couldn’t move. There were three boys, and one girl. Matilda Wilder was a mousey redhead while her brothers were all brunettes. She wore a purple dress which fit her perfectly, her hair tied into pigtails with red ribbons. Issac and Freddie Wilder sat shoulder to shoulder.
They were the twins, I thought dizzily. They were identical twins in Mrs Wilder’s eyes, but these guys looked nothing like each other—one of them sporting a handsome face and razor jawline, while the other had an odd looking nose and jutting chin. Still though, I could tell Mrs Wilder had made an effort to make them look… beautiful. Perfect. I could see her attempt at stitching their lips together.
It wasn’t their appearance that was gluing me to the ground, however. Because looking closer, past the made-up faces on both the boys and the girls, the ribbons and fancy clothes and empty eyes staring right through me, soft candlelight was slowly bringing them to life in front of me. These kids had been hidden away for so long, and I was finally seeing them for who they were. My gaze flicked to each of them. I was seeing… stitches. I was seeing rugged stitches and gashes in their flesh, patchwork skin making up fingers and elbows and cheeks. They had been taken apart over and over again and put back together.
Matilda’s neck was a collage of flesh, rugged markings where a marker pen had clumsily sliced into her skin and pieced her like a jigsaw through mangled body parts and anything left over. Freddie and Isaac’s heads were cocked at an angle, and looking closer I glimpsed the bad stitch-job which had knitted them together.
I could see it in all of them. None of these kids were their original selves. They reminded me of dolls built through old doll pieces. I didn’t know I was screaming until the gravity of the situation hit me, and I realised I was suffocating on dead skin which made them up, their bodies stitched and knitted together, transforming them into her ideal children. Flickering candlelight revealed the last Wilder kid.
There were two significant things which were different about Casper.
The first, was that he must have been her most recent. He was her most… original—and the second? Unlike the others, he was awake.
Until that moment, Casper had been sitting amongst his siblings, head cocked to the side like the others, catatonic.
His dazed eyes slowly found mine—and I glimpsed recognition flickering in his expression, his rigid body starting to contort back to life. He was her paper-doll.
But Casper wasn’t finished.
“Phoebe?” When the boy spoke, his voice was barely a whimper. Frenzied eyes flicked from Matilda to Issac and Freddie, all of which were still wearing their perfect smiles. I noticed the rugged skin of his neck, and my heart sank.
Something was moving behind him, and I forced myself to step forwards. I glimpsed that same chord-like thing. This time it was fully attacked to him. No, it was buried directly inside his head. A sour paste crept up my throat when I saw the carnivorous hole burrowing deeper inside his head. I could glimpse the intense white of chipped skull and a strange looking fluid leaking out —but it looked… wrong. I’ve always imagined the internals of someone’s brain to be pinkish grey. Though what I was seeing was more like a black ooze sliding down the back of his neck. It reminded me of squid-ink. Definitely not blood.
It looked like he had been shot in the head, or had been pulled out of the operating theatre mid-surgery. And somehow, he was still alive. Just like the description, the chord-thing seemed to be attached in two places—to the back of the head, directly on the brain, and stapled to his spine. The device was humming, but I don’t think it was working.
Casper was looking directly at me, and the way his body was angled was different to his siblings. Instead of sitting straight, he was trying and failing to jump to his feet, his eyes wide, almost unseeing. I could see that frustration and anger, that pain from the other night alive in his face. I opened my mouth to speak, though Casper was already lifting a trembling hand, his fingers twining around the chord and giving a pathetic tug. A thin line of dark red, almost black, slid from his nostril.
I knew it was him. “Can you… can you get… it… out?” His hand found the chord again, and his grasp slipped. “Please.” He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. “There’s something… in my… my head, and I need you to… I need you to fucking get it out…. right now.”
“Casper.” I couldn’t resist a relieved hiss. “This woman.” I twisted and pointed at Mrs Wilder.
“Who is she to you?”
The kid blinked, his eyes narrowing. He jolted, twisting around to try and see the thing attached to him. “Why would I know her? Get this shit out of my head!”
He let out a hysterical yell. His cry was more of a demand, and that nameless boy underneath splintered doll pieces began to unravel.
“Get it out.” He kept repeating. “Fucking get it out! There’s something inside my head!”
I nodded, choking back a cry.
He slammed his hands down, but seemingly couldn’t move from the chair. “What the fuck.” He side eyed the others. “What the fuck is this?”
I struggled to answer without screaming myself. “Stuff.” I managed to get out through a sputter. “Can you stand up?”
“What?” He blinked rapidly at me, I was seeing it again. That odd light flickering in his pupils.
“No. I can’t move!”
The humming grew louder, and at the corner of my eye, that thing seemed to dig deeper inside his head.
More blood spurted from his nose, and I could tell that he was fighting it.
The boy’s eyes found mine, his words tangling into an almost slur. “Get it out! I can’t… I can’t fucking think straight. I…. I….”
His eyes rolled back for a moment before he shook his head, lunging against the chair. His head twitched. “I don’t know I am.”
I couldn’t move. Watching this thing take control in real time, it was both fascinating and horrifying, sending my knees buckling.
“Who… who am I?”
His whole head twitched, like he was glitching.
“I know her. I… I know her. I’m her… I’m her son… I’m her s—son.”
Casper hummed, his twitching lips pricking into a demented smile. “I’ll always know her. She’s the one who… who s---saved me.”
Choking on a shade too vivid and dark to be blood, he sputtered, his head drooping.
“Mom?” Casper spoke through mouthfuls of pooling black. He lifted his head, unseeing eyes blinking in dim candlelight. The chord-like thing sounded more like it was drilling into his brain, and I knew I was fucked when his lips spread out into a childlike smile, and he swayed to the left and then the right, the light in his eyes burning. “There’s… water.” He whispered. “So… so cold. I’m so cold.” His voice broke.
“I don’t… want to be cold.”
“You won’t be cold.” Mrs Wilder’s voice was a sharp cry behind me. “Ever again. Your mom is here.”
“Promise? You n… need to… prom…promise me.” His teeth chattered. “You need to… tell me… I won’t… be cold. That my mom… is coming.”
“I promise, darling.”
“Mommy?”
“No,” I swallowed back frustrated tears. “Casper, she’s not your mother!”
His next words split into a guttural screech which almost sent him toppling off of the chair. He grabbed at his head, clawing at face.
But the more he was tugging, the machine fought against him. I could see metallic clamp-like legs stubbornly holding on.
His next words were mangled between cries from his conscious self, and whatever the fuck his ‘mother’ was forcing into his head.
And yet it barely grazed my ears. I was trying to figure out how to get that monumental THING out of his brain. There was no way I could just pull it out. That could kill him, right?
I started forwards to grab him, to try and pry the clamp off his spine, before I was being smothered with the stink of rich lavender. I hadn’t noticed Mrs Wilder swipe up my phone. She was holding it up in the air. “Live? You were never filming anything, you stupid girl! Do you understand what you have done?” She laughed—and I mean cackled like a witch. “I warned you, didn’t I?”
I got one last glimpse of Casper. His whole body was jerking under the chord inside his head, but he wasn’t crying out anymore.
Before I knew what was happening, I was being dragged back, and in front of me a Wilder boy shoving his struggling brother back into the chair. I didn’t have time to cry out.
With strength I had no idea the crazy bitch had, I was being violently yanked by my hair. And while I was flailing, I saw the ultrasound’s once again. Looking closer though, each one had a different name. A different mother. My head spun. That couldn’t be right. Mrs Wilder told me she was pregnant with four children, so who’s ultrasound’s were these? And why had she framed them? I didn’t have time to check it out.
I was dumped on my ass and the door was slammed straight in my face. I tried to get back in, throwing my fists into the door, until my own mother’s arms were pulling me back. I was hysterical. I couldn’t breathe, and mom wasn’t getting through to me. I’d kicked and thrown myself into the door, attracting the attention of our neighbours. That’s what I wanted. I wanted one of them to call the police, and when I picked up a brick, struggling against mom’s attempt to restrain me, and throwing it through the Wilder’s front window, I finally got it.
Two cops arrived, and I was so relieved I almost sobbed into one officer's chest. While my mom was trying and failing to explain my “breakdown” I begged them to take a look inside. And I was loud. I was screaming.
Which they couldn’t ignore.
“Phoebe!” I was partially aware of mom’s voice trying to calm me down, but I all I could see was that thing in Casper’s head, and his siblings made from knitted flesh. When the officer’s exited the Wilder’s house after five painful minutes waiting, I stumbled over to the two.
“Well?” I demanded, shoving away my mom. “Did you see them?” I yelled. “She’s turned them into… into dolls!” I was already going on a tangent, hysteria plunging me further into my own insanity.
“They’re not her children.” I gritted out. “She kidnapped and.. and stitched them up like… like Frankenstein! Mrs Wilder likes dolls! She had this paper-doll of me when she kidnapped me and lit it on fire to threaten me because I was talking to Casper. And he… he’s one of them, and not even her son! She’s controlling his mind with this thing stuck inside—"
“That’s enough!” Mom snapped.
The officer in front of me chuckled. “Breathe, kid!” He said. “Jeez. You’re not even giving us time to talk.”
“What?”
Instead of speaking to me directly, the officer turned to mom. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary, ma’am.” He said. “The Wilder’s were enjoying a family dinner, and…” his gaze flashed to me. “Well. It appears someone ruined it. There are no current reports of child abduction.”
I couldn’t resist a laugh. “Are you serious? Did you not… did you not see—”
He cut me off. “There they are!” He chuckled. “The Wilder siblings!” The officer saluted the four of them who had wandered outside trailing their mother. Ignoring the other three, I made my way over to Casper. But he looked… I don’t know, he looked like he usually did through his window? There were no stitches or patchwork skin. He was wearing a beanie, and I reached to yank it off, when his hand caught mine.
He was freezing cold.
His skin felt almost slimy, like I was touching the skin of a dead fish. I wanted to hold on, to force the cops to believe me, but he was already speaking—his voice was different, a lot deeper than the hysterical cry of the boy underneath. “Mom?” Casper’s eyes were cold. He shoved my hand away before taking a shaky step back. Like I was crazy. He quickly joined his siblings.
“Who is this girl?”
“We’re going home.” Mom said, grasping my arm. “Can’t you see you’ve embarrassed me enough?”
“Phoebe, huh?”
I turned to find the other Wilder kids. The guy with the jawline still had that doll-like smile. “Please leave our brother alone.”
I couldn’t resist spitting at him. “He’s not your brother. You’re brainwashed.”
Something in his expression seemed to twitch suddenly. Mom tried to pull me back, but I stubbornly stayed where I was.
Issac or Freddie cocked his head. “Brain... washed?"
He started to speak, before Mrs Wilder ushered them all away. But I did notice him turn back to frown at me.
Needless to say, I was grounded—and threatened with a restraining order.
That didn’t stop me peeking through the gap in Casper’s curtains that night. I caught him stumbling around, struggling to get the chord-thing out of his head with manic hands. He came over to the window several times, his bloody hands slamming into the window before slipping away. I'm not sure, but I don't think he knew why his legs kept drawing him to the window.
Mrs Wilder joined him soon after, forcing him to bite into something plastic, as she led him to sit on the bed, her fingers wrapping around the chord, and yanking it out. I didn't hear his scream, but his reaction to it, body writhing, eyes squeezing shut, I knew he could feel it. And part of him was awake. Just part of him.
Not the parts who knew our window sessions and his horrifying reality.
Casper came to his window all bandaged up. He didn’t hold up a message, and his eyes were vacant.
Though his expression told me everything I needed to know.
Engines woke me up several hours later. It was midnight. Sliding out of bed, my gaze went straight to Casper’s window. But it was dark. I pressed my face against my own window and glimpsed Mrs Wilder standing on her lawn in her robe.
A car pulled up, and the cop from earlier jumped out. In his arms was what looked like a body bag. He dropped it on the ground. “Freshly dead.” He said, when I opened my window to hear what was being said. “Car crash. Victim is male. Eighteen years old.” He folded his arms with a light laugh. “I got him straight from the morgue. His parents think there’s no body.” Both of them knelt next to the bag, and Mrs Wilder zipped it open with a hiss.
When the bag jolted suddenly, I realised the body was still alive.
The officer stumbled back. “Jesus. I didn’t even use that much. You said a single shot, right?”
“Mmm.”
Mrs Wilder pulled out a carving knife from her robe, and I felt my entire body turn to ice.
The cop raised a brow. “You came prepared.”
She sighed, her hands on her hips. “He’s spare parts. The expiry is approaching which is why they’re… acting out.”
With startling precision, she aimed the knife above what I guessed was the body’s head, before bringing it down with a sickening crunch. The bag stopped squirming.
I can’t remember anything else from that night.
My mother was gone the next morning. A paper doll replica of her was sitting next to a note and a plate of freshly baked cookies.
...
“Dearest, Phoebe.
I baked these thinking of you! And my, you should be grateful I have even bothered to do this after playing your games last night. Honestly, I am not the monster you think I am. Your mom asked me to let you know she will be busy with me for a few hours.
I’ve been asked to take care of you, so here are some chocolate cookies! Please maintain the rule I set in place and do not go near or talk to my children. I’m sure you know what will happen if you happen to slip up. I took the liberty of asking your mother to fit specialised devices in your room so I know when you are talking to my son. Writing equipment has been taken away. I hope we can be friends and I can start calling you my daughter. If something were to happen to your mom, do not worry. I will take you in. I want you to remember that.
Love,
Mrs Wilder.
PS: I can’t wait for you to (not) meet my newest son!

I (31M) have been talking to someone (27F) for a week that I met on Bumble. We text extensively every day, had a long phone conversation the other night, and one coffee date that went really well. I'm taking her to dinner later this week. I really like her.
My question:
Do you all think it's appropriate to send flowers and a note (something like "Looking forward to our date") to her at work on the day of our date?
Some context:

• She works at a senior living facility
• She mentioned that she likes to be "showered with affection"
• I'm kind of an aspie, so I really have a hard time with these things.

I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice/perspectives, particularly from women. Would you find this flattering or a bit too much? I don't want to embarrass her.
Thanks in advance!

Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! The warning bells tolled ceaselessly throughout the human city, screaming out the portent of doom in their tintinnabulation.
And yet, no one hue-and-cry could be heard. Not one speech was given. No announcements or calls to action were made; not to shelter, nor to rally, nor even to evacuate. What good would it do? Everyone already knew what had happened, and no one could find recourse from it. What safety was there from the very laws of the world, the foundations of all societies, changing without warning in the span of a single heartbeat?
In the blink of an eye, the system itself had gone out.
In the city’s heart, a young man clad in ivory burst through the war room doors. “Captain General!” he addressed with a salute.
A wizened knight regarded him as he arrived. “Sir William, good. I take it you’ve noticed?”
“It was hard not to,” Sir William replied. “I don’t suppose you know why the system isn’t working?”
“No,” the commander answered. “We’re going to have to work with our best guess. Right now, I’m concerned with how the other nations will react.”
“Other nations? The problem is that widespread?”
“We don’t have any way to confirm that, but if it isn’t then the Vulpes have managed a ritual magic on a scale I’ve never heard of. If you look at it from the others’ perspectives, however, the people with the most motive to disable the system…” the Captain General left off.
“… would be us,” William finished, earning a nod from his superior.
The system had given certain bonuses to the abilities of the various sentients that lived within it. Faster growth in certain stats, racial skills, unique magics. Every group had been given certain advantages.
While this was true of the Humans as well, it was far less so than the others. Better stamina improvement through cardio, and a modest bonus to projectile accuracy were all they had been granted. Everything they had was a struggle, biting, clawing, and scraping to carve a place for themselves in this world.
If that playing field had been leveled, that would make them the primary suspects as far as the other races were concerned.
“We had nothing to do with it though, right?” the young man asked.
“Of course not!” the Captain-General scolded. He curled his lip and twirled his grayed moustache. “The system is a divine construct beyond human understanding. No, this was someone else. As I said, we’re going with our best guess.”
“What’s that, sir?”
“The best ritualists are the Vulpus,” he said, raising a finger. “They’re possibility one. If this is targeted at us, that leaves no other suspects. I doubt that’s the case, though. Their ire has been aimed at the Wolven for the last twenty years, and the fact that our commands aren’t working at all leads me to believe this is far worse than a jamming ritual.
The second possibility,” he explained as he raised another finger, “is the demons. I’m not sure how they’d manage it, but the system really has been destroyed, there is no other race with a penchant and a knack for destruction on such a level that it could damage the system itself. Of course, I doubt any mindless brute would be able to do such a thing. ”
William swallowed hard, fighting the urge to bring his hand to his shield to combat his unease. “So, the nobility?”
“Not the ordinary nobility, no. The only ones that could pull this off are demon gods,” the Captain-General answered. “A lesser god might have the power to destroy the system if that god had an affinity for destruction. There are two types of monsters born from destruction, the dragons and the demons.
"The Dragons deny there being lesser gods among their number. As such, I believe we are looking at the work of the Three Devils: The Marquis of Cruelty, the Baron of Fire, and the Marquis of Fate.”
William placed his hand on his chin in contemplation. “Couldn’t the problem be temporary, sir? If not, then you might be on the right track. The Devils might be able to pull this off. The Marquis of Fate is the most likely of the three, but I don’t know. I don’t see the motive for Laplace, and I’m not sure I agree that De Sade or Richthofen have the power to do it.”
The young man grimaced, looking up at the commander. “I think we need to consider the worst-case scenario, sir: not a lesser god, a true divinity.”
“Be very careful with your words, paladin, lest you fall,” the old knight warned. “Regardless, if that is the case then either the greater gods want the system gone, in which case the system is at its end, or the gods have gone to war, in which case the world is in trouble.”
“A grim thought,” William agreed. “What are your orders, sir?”
“For now, we must scramble to get our defenses back up, in case this is the first stage of an attack. You let me worry about that. I want you to find the underlying cause of this, hero. Track the demons’ latest movements. Even if this wasn’t their doing, there might be a clue to find there.”
“Is there no other way, mother?” a young woman asked.
This was a hasty decision. Too hasty, perhaps, but the situation demanded urgency. If they dawdled, the entire city-state of Mirage could be blown to dust, quite literally.
A legendary illusion magic, affecting every sense and turning any stranger away, kept the city safe, or it was supposed to. They said the magic was a ritual devised by their peoples’ god of trickery, who fooled the great god of order into giving his people the control of it. If so, then that trickster was no longer there to answer questions.
Some said he was dead, slain in a conflict with another deity, perhaps that very same god of order. Most, however, believed that was a deception, and that he had faked his death long ago, as the master of illusions he was.
To ask the Vulpes, while their patron may have taken inspiration from the fae, only he could have come up with fueling such an illusion directly from a leyline. Monitoring and maintaining it was a simple matter for the fox therianthropes, the foremost experts of ritual magic.
Or, at least, it was.
“We’ve lost the system, Cadmea” the voice of the head of the ritualists’ clan reminded her daughter through. “We no longer have an interface to check the mana flow. Every moment we linger, we run the risk of losing control of it. We live over a wind leyline, and wind magic, above all other kinds, likes to move freely.”
Cadmea swallowed hard. Any moment could lead to an irreversible cascade failure that could raze their nation. Even in the best-case scenario, their land’s only strategic defense would be stripped from them; Mirage didn’t even have walls, for pity’s sake.
Time was of the essence, she knew that, but by its very nature there was no predicting how this ritual would turn out.
The ritual itself was crude, to say the least. The runic arrays were slapdash, made by dragging her tails through the sand in an exceptionally rough “circle” that she could barely make out in dusk’s light. The incantation was unusually short and sounded like an elder asking a favor using outdated slang while baby talking. For crying out loud, the ritual’s focus was a “sandwich” that didn’t even fit the definition of one!
And of course, the intended result itself was unpredictable, and had potential to be far more disastrous than the swift ablative end the leyline would bring.
It was a wild guess, but they had to take it.
“Okay,” Cadmea said. With that, she tossed “sandwich” onto the mound of sand off-center of the array with a splat. For a moment the young ritualist felt she wouldn’t mind a swift death by leyline rupture; it would be better than dying of embarrassment. She spoke the words.
“Yo, Tetra, god ob magic, pwease put yo ears on” she loudly announced. Her cheeks flushed. “It would be gwoovy if could ya pwease do us a sowid and hewp us out, ya dig, home swice?”
“Wow, you actually said all that?” a voice rang out over the dunes.
Cadmea looked around and saw nothing. Something was wrong. No, if by some miracle this ritual had actually worked, then…
She brought her hand up to her ear. “Mother, I think it worked. What do I say?” No response came through the enchanted earpiece.
“Ah ah ah!” the voice laughed. “No speaking to mommy dearest now. You thought yourself significant enough to summon me, so you can speak for yourself. I’ve gone ahead and jammed that little trinket of yours for now. Understand, mortal?”
The vixen nodded, sweat dripping down her brow. “Y-yes. I thank you for allowing me to summon you.”
“Oh, you didn’t summon me, I was already in the neighborhood checking something… interesting. Ooh, speaking of interesting, thanks for the offering.” A hand reached out and grabbed the Frankenfood monstrosity from above the podium. Cadmea looked up around to a short, strange woman floating in midair.
She looked strange, like a cross between a human and a wingless pixie. She was short; 86, 87 centimeters. Her hair shimmered with every color of the rainbow and more; her eye colors shifted unpredictably from moment to moment.
She wore a multicolor robe and carried an ornate staff on her back. It was tipped with a glowing violet crystal, and on its base rested a blade. Cadmea could just make out the handle of a wand on her hip.
The way she materialized was sudden, like she’d been there all along, but the vulpine woman hadn’t been able to recognize it.
“What… are you?” Cadmea asked, only for the entity to give her a crooked grin.
“Oh, I’m a lot of things. The Force of Chaos, Tetra the Fourth, the Goddess of Magic, a rule breaker, a 3D projection, an eldritch abomination, part of a web novel, a reality warper, on and on and on. If you mean my appearance, I’m an elf, but not a high elf. This is what my original form looked like,” she answered. She took a large bite out of the slope in her hand.
“Mm, that’s good for mortal fare! Jackfruit, cave-aged cheese, cucumbers, peppermint, and tomato sauce!” she observed, then took a bite of the handful of slop. Cadmea fought to restrain her turning stomach. “So,” Tetra asked with her mouth full, “what exactly do you think you deserve my help with?”
Cadmea took a deep breath to settle her nerves. Despite the chills running down her spine like a parade of spiders, she had to stay calm. There was no predicting this… woman anyway, so she may as well get straight to the point. Waffling about just wasted time and increased the chances for things to go awry.
“We need your help controlling the leyline tap we use to fuel our city’s grand illusion spell. If you could-“
Tetra shoved a messy finger in her face. “I’m going to cut you off right there and say ‘no,’” she said. “I’m sure that stick-in-the-mud Tri’s got you thinking magic is something to be harnessed and follows your little rules and regulations, but again: no. Magic doesn’t follow the rules, it breaks them! Otherwise, it’s just boring old natural law! Physics and math! Yuck!”
The elf’s smile grew unnaturally wide, ear to ear. Suddenly, a teal flash lit up the sky. Cadmea wheeled around to see a colossal pillar of light shooting up out of the sands and into the sky, growing wider and wider at the speed of sound, ripping the land apart. “NOOO!” she screamed as she helplessly watched the magic engulf the city. She fell to her knees. She was too late.
There was no surviving that, no matter how high your level was. There was no barrier they could create. How could there be? This was a leyline, a flow of magic so powerful that it took. And they’d been trying to harness it?
“Well, look at that! Such is the hubris of mortals,” Tetra said as the magic raced to meet them. “Magic is chaos! Imagination given force and form! It wants to be as free as the wind!”
Cadmea squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the end…
… but the end didn’t come.
“I think I’ve made my point,” Tetra declared.
Cadmea slowly opened her eyes. There in the distance stood Mirage, like nothing had happened. “W-what?” she asked, hyperventilating from fear.
“What, did you think there was only one way to use an illusion like yours? Oh, but don’t think that wasn’t real, think of it as a preview. So, now you know I have all the leverage in this little negotiation you want from me. So, what do you think you can offer someone like me?”
“I-I don’t-“
“Of course, you don’t. You’re one person living in one city in one reality out of an infinite number I could hop to, and an infinite number of them could use my help more than you. This is a nexus world, sure, but that doesn’t mean you yourselves are important,” she says. “Normally the answer is ‘absolutely nothing,’ and I don’t answer your little plea in the first place.”
“So… why did you?”
“Ah, that’s the right question!” Tetra replied. “Like I said, I was checking something interesting. Two somethings. So, what is your name?”
“C-Cadmea.”
“Well, Cadmea, I’ll make you a deal.” Her tone became ice cold. “I’m not going put any kind of monitor on your little magic power source, or automatically regulate it for you. I could, but I won’t.
“I will, however, give you, specifically, the ability to sense its flow from any distance so you can know how wide your figurative valves should be from day to day. In exchange, I’m going to have you do a series of tasks for me.”
The elf reached into her pocket and pulled out two polished orbs, one slate grey and the other jade green. “I want you to bring these to the fairy kingdom. Ask for the nightshade twins and deliver these to them, it should be clear who gets which. Wait there for further instructions.”
Cadmea nodded, still shaken. “Okay, I accept,” she said. “But how will I tell my people how to adjust the magic?”
Tetra sighed impatiently. “Give me your earpiece,” she said. Cadmea did as instructed, handing it to the short woman, who pulled the wand out of her robe and tapped it to the implement before handing it back. “There. Unless you bumble into an absolute antimagic field, that should let this communicate with your mother’s copy anywhere in this multiversal supercluster.”
“Multi-what?” Cadmea asked.
“Everywhere, it works everywhere you’ll ever go. Ask the grey twin if you want a detailed explanation,” the goddess said. Her eyes rolled in her sockets, then kept rolling until they fell out. She caught them in her hand and put them back in, magically none the worse for wear. “You can say your goodbyes through your earpiece. You depart in… now.”
A noise came from beneath Cadmea, who looked down and saw a magic portal open beneath her feet. She only had time to yelp before she fell through. She landed in a heap in a rose bush on the other side. “Ow,” she whined, looking back up through the portal at Tetra, who gave one comment before closing it.
“Oh, and welcome to Albion.”
King Finvarra watched as Rocket and the two fairies flew off into the forest. “My king?” a salmon-pink haired fairy asked as he flew up from below. “We’ve moved the wounded to the ground for treatment.”
He nodded. “Tell me, Vera: was the evacuation a success?”
“You mean to ask if we missed the two newblooms, your highness?” Vera asked. “I don’t think so. The gray one, Liandan, said they appeared from their flowers twenty minutes ago. That was after the evacuation was complete. They must have bloomed during the fire itself. Perhaps their mother flowers sought to save them?”
“Indeed,” Finvarra agreed. “And did anyone call me by true name after they arrived?”
“They are small and came in quietly, but I don’t think so.”
“So then,” the Fairy King questioned, “how did they know it?”
“That’s… a very good question, your highness,” Vera admitted.
”What a strange pair,” Finvarra thought. It was rare for a flowering plant to create a fairy in its lifetime. Rarer still would one give rise to siblings. Twins? It was practically unheard of.
Furthermore, understanding English, the common tongue created by the angels, was nothing unusual for a newbloom. Speaking it was an entirely different matter. It took months for a fairy to learn how to make the proper sounds, and yet Liandan was speaking it with total fluency.
And then there were their colors. Belladonna’s name pointed to her mother flower easily enough, and like all True Fairies her colors matched. Her twin, though, was born an ashen gray. Given when she appeared, he could only think of one cause.
“Like a phoenix, born from the ashes,” he mused. He’d suggest that for her false name later.
First Previous Next

Period: 1109.74 days

	Submissions	Comments
Total	999	168052
Rate (per day)	0.90	151.27
Unique Redditors	542	22801
Combined Score	782294	2237111

Top Submitters' Top Submissions

1. 15804 points, 27 submissions: Polaroid1999
   
   1. National animals of the Balkan states. Have you seen them in person? (1092 points, 272 comments)
   2. What is your opinion on older architecture? (Photos from Varna) (815 points, 134 comments)
   3. Largest banknote denominations of balkan currencies. Which is your favourite? (767 points, 326 comments)
   4. Largest beep in the Balkans. Which is your favourite? (699 points, 258 comments)
   5. Have you seen painted electrical panels? How common is this in your area? Is it good or bad? (697 points, 84 comments)
   6. Which currency has the best design? (660 points, 323 comments)
   7. Have you seen the second largest city in your country? (652 points, 197 comments)
   8. The national flowers of the Balkan states. Why do you think these were chosen? (620 points, 134 comments)
   9. How familiar does this sight look to you? I took this photo of the sunset, but couldn't wait for Monday. (616 points, 160 comments)
   10. Main ports of the Balkan states. Do you live near a sea/river? (614 points, 161 comments)
2. 14911 points, 18 submissions: al0678
   
   1. Do you agree or disagree with this meme? (3235 points, 374 comments)
   2. Are Americans more or less a dumb nation? (1187 points, 305 comments)
   3. My Balkan mom would NEVER (1098 points, 279 comments)
   4. Which one are you this summer, top or bottom? (882 points, 102 comments)
   5. Look how cute and peaceful you all looked together. What happened next? (833 points, 289 comments)
   6. How would you define your country's foreign policy in few words? (785 points, 174 comments)
   7. Is there a true to Serbia being the Balkan villain or or is this pure bullshit? (745 points, 438 comments)
   8. TIL what Turkey and Finland have in common. Would you fight for your country? (669 points, 320 comments)
   9. [NQM] This is what happened when the Ottomans would catch two men having sex; from a 1600s manuscript (627 points, 165 comments)
   10. Representation of Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BC) as he may have appeared in life. Reconstruction is based on archaeological evidence including busts, coin portraits and statuary, as well as descriptions of Alexander in historical accounts. Good effort in your opinion? (588 points, 275 comments)
3. 10354 points, 14 submissions: fatadelatara
   
   1. You have some self deprecating memes about your country? Let's see them (1544 points, 61 comments)
   2. Bulgaria, what are you planning mate? 🤔 (1039 points, 148 comments)
   3. Romanian Ukrainian border We do what we have to do, no? (993 points, 152 comments)
   4. Is he somehow right? (912 points, 282 comments)
   5. [Humour] What other stupid sayings or ideas foreigners had or said about your country, people or culture? Screenshots would be much appreciated. Let's laugh a little. :-) (890 points, 368 comments)
   6. Today is the National Day of Romania (687 points, 115 comments)
   7. What the...? (639 points, 140 comments)
   8. [Cover Contest] Danube Delta (630 points, 20 comments)
   9. So... did know that? 👀 (593 points, 326 comments)
   10. Kids playing. Iza Valley, Maramures, Romania. 1979 (let's see some old pictures from your country) (505 points, 29 comments)
4. 10229 points, 16 submissions: Dornanian
   
   1. Most upvoted picture post on each national Balkan subreddit. Do you think it reflects your national subreddit (politics, art, humour)? (1592 points, 256 comments)
   2. Romanians when gasoline prices go up. How is the public reaction in your countries? Did people queue to get gasoline? (852 points, 110 comments)
   3. Most visited tourist attraction in each Balkan country. Which one do you like more? (809 points, 272 comments)
   4. Merry Christmas to all of you! In Romania we have this tradition of children that come to sing Christmas carols (colinde) to people’s homes. Do you have it too? (633 points, 95 comments)
   5. Romanian entrepreneurial spirit: “I sell tuica/rakija 2nd floor, 14 lei/liter”. Do you have such funny examples from your countries? (616 points, 67 comments)
   6. First person to be vaccinated against COVID in Romania: a nurse from Bucharest. Who was the first person in your country? (602 points, 196 comments)
   7. The first words of each Balkan country’s anthem. Which one do you like most? (595 points, 241 comments)
   8. We finally have a proper winter! How is it down there for you? (582 points, 164 comments)
   9. How common is it to see the national flag in public places in your country? Here it’s quite commun and popular. (576 points, 180 comments)
   10. 2nd Balkan War detailed map. Do you find it accurate? (516 points, 215 comments)
5. 9405 points, 7 submissions: xhensishahini
   
   1. Did your parents do this too? (2954 points, 181 comments)
   2. Is this true in your country? I drive manual btw. (2111 points, 148 comments)
   3. Is yours too? Albania here (1623 points, 233 comments)
   4. Serbia is this true?? I thought you were better than us. (1044 points, 176 comments)
   5. Do gypsies go around your town too , playing music , when there is any celebration , just to get money? (664 points, 135 comments)
   6. Is this true in your country? (562 points, 61 comments)
   7. Is this true? Romania explain yourself (447 points, 86 comments)
6. 9043 points, 1 submission: More-Row1467
   
   1. Thoughts on young Turks leaving Islam? (9043 points, 1692 comments)
7. 8658 points, 9 submissions: Smooth-Budget-9882
   
   1. True? (2892 points, 144 comments)
   2. Which Balkan Grandmother's do you think cooks the best? or exaggerate the most? XD (949 points, 36 comments)
   3. XD (909 points, 71 comments)
   4. Praying for Ukraine? XD (866 points, 98 comments)
   5. "You can take pleasure in living, but it's even more pleasure to survive" - Random Albanian dude (741 points, 84 comments)
   6. Average balkan parties be like: (663 points, 27 comments)
   7. Who is better Burger King or Burek King?? (595 points, 52 comments)
   8. ¿? (527 points, 31 comments)
   9. If there was a possible chance of your country being conquered by another balkan country which one would u choose or feel more "comfortable" with and why?? For example Im Albanian and would choose Romania bcs I like their culture and music. (Countries with same ethnicity doesn't count) (516 points, 537 comments)
8. 8451 points, 9 submissions: uw888
   
   1. Over 100,000 people have been killed in Yemen so far and children are dying from hunger the most horrible and painful deaths at this very moment. How would you complete the statement below? (2553 points, 336 comments)
   2. Do you agree with one of the most successful tweets this month seen by millions? Do you think the media in your country are biased in the same way and why is that so? (1870 points, 612 comments)
   3. Do people in your country see Afghanistan as part of the Middle East? What about you personally? Do you agree Americans are wrong? (757 points, 354 comments)
   4. Do you think your culture is superior to others or do you think your countrymen/Balkan people are delusional? (679 points, 294 comments)
   5. Will the Taiwan question become a bigger priority than the Ukrainian question pretty soon for the US and its allies as things continue to escalate? What are your predictions? (650 points, 318 comments)
   6. How do you remember this event if you lived through it? Did it come as a surprise or was it expected? How was it reported in the mainstream media in your country? (571 points, 437 comments)
   7. Did you get smacked when you were a child? If so, your parents were breaking the law, except if you're in Serbia or BiH (483 points, 200 comments)
   8. Stunning 2300 year old bronze from Bulgaria. What are some ancient archeological artefacts from your country that are very famous/I must know about or you personally admire that you'd like to share? (449 points, 82 comments)
   9. A memable traditional Bulgarian painting 😁 Do you have memable paintings from your country? (439 points, 55 comments)
9. 7839 points, 8 submissions: ManusTheVantablack
   
   1. Only balkan people can relate to this 😄 (2513 points, 104 comments)
   2. I think most of us can agree with this (1822 points, 109 comments)
   3. Would anyone find it interesting if USA Balkanize like us? (934 points, 198 comments)
   4. Have you ever drank water from hose? (619 points, 83 comments)
   5. One thing we have in common with Nordics i guess. Do you think Tampons should be tax free? (550 points, 144 comments)
   6. How do Romanians feel about Kingdom of Romania during Interwar period? (481 points, 140 comments)
   7. What is your opinion on United Ireland and Scottish Independence? (475 points, 308 comments)
   8. 80 years ago today, the Yugoslav coup d'état took place. The regency led by Prince Paul was overthrown and King Peter II fully assumed power. This provoked the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. How do you think ww2 would have went for Yugoslavia if coup failed? (445 points, 63 comments)
10. 7712 points, 11 submissions: dardan06
    
    1. The threat is real (1789 points, 142 comments)
    2. Every Balkan Redditer has two sides. Do you agree? (787 points, 76 comments)
    3. Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Balkan medal table - Day 4 (735 points, 156 comments)
    4. The 2022 World Press Freedom Index Ranking: Balkans. Thoughts? (626 points, 264 comments)
    5. BOSSnia (623 points, 279 comments)
    6. How is vaccination going in your country? [02.10.2021] (623 points, 198 comments)
    7. How is vaccination going in your country? (570 points, 252 comments)
    8. The mayors of Budapest and Tirana unveiled the monument of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg in Budapest today 🇭🇺🇦🇱 (551 points, 290 comments)
    9. There are 50 Serbian Dinar in the lower left corner. Thoughts? (492 points, 156 comments)
    10. Balkans do you agree? (468 points, 123 comments)

Top Commenters

1. umbronox (22731 points, 750 comments)
2. Zekieb (17007 points, 540 comments)
3. fatadelatara (16605 points, 1129 comments)
4. BamBumKiofte23 (13301 points, 354 comments)
5. Dornanian (11094 points, 950 comments)
6. Polaroid1999 (10940 points, 1020 comments)
7. ParaBellumSanctum (9677 points, 245 comments)
8. whattoheck_ (9637 points, 266 comments)
9. samurai_guitarist (8439 points, 569 comments)
10. kaubojdzord (7945 points, 170 comments)

Top Submissions

1. Thoughts on young Turks leaving Islam? by More-Row1467 (9043 points, 1692 comments)
2. What region would your country give up? by toryn0 (5322 points, 1035 comments)
3. Today marks 23 years from the start of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. by mellowdude13 (3687 points, 1197 comments)
4. It do be like that by lbseida (3571 points, 144 comments)
5. Who doesn’t? by Kartvelius (3544 points, 505 comments)
6. Do you agree or disagree with this meme? by al0678 (3235 points, 374 comments)
7. How true is this in your opinion? by danger_noodl (3155 points, 340 comments)
8. Did your parents do this too? by xhensishahini (2954 points, 181 comments)
9. Does your diaspora see your country from rose colored glasses. by njeshizzle87 (2939 points, 199 comments)
10. True? by Smooth-Budget-9882 (2892 points, 144 comments)

Top Comments

1. 1177 points: umbronox's comment in Thoughts about this? I'm surprised that they included Athens.
2. 990 points: papi827's comment in Istanbul metrobus
3. 960 points: MehmetPasha1453's comment in Most Developed Countries According to Human Develpment Index. Thoughts on this?
4. 905 points: Ineffable_21's comment in I'm romanian,but a lot of people tell me I look bulgarian af is that true?
5. 868 points: Lotofagos_'s comment in THE MADLADS FUCKING DID IT!!!!
6. 855 points: Gynaecolog's comment in How would you rank the flags of the Balkan States?
7. 840 points: osurukyapanmaymun's comment in Is it me or are Turkey and Romania totally wrong?
8. 833 points: Citizen_of_Earth--'s comment in What do you think about this statement from Turkish PM?
9. 833 points: CriticalEngineer666's comment in 🇷🇴
10. 803 points: Constantine_da_Great's comment in What do you think of this ranking of tasteatlas?

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​
In mid-2013, Amit Sandis sat back in his chair to watch the sunset, wondering what the future would hold in Latvia. Business was starting to look up, and he had a new family to take care of. They had just a few days left in their summer vacation in the Maldives before returning to Latvia to join his two co-owners in making a critical decision. Sandis, together with his two best friends, had, in 2002, followed an entrepreneurial dream to build a five-star hotel in the cultural centre of one of Latvia’s top seaside cities, Liepaja. To achieve that dream, the three co-owners had negotiated and survived many challenges over the past decade.
After several early years of confidence and profit, the co-owners had spent the past five years struggling, due to the massive downturn in the Latvian economy, as a result of the European Union (EU) financial crisis and subsequent slow recovery. Since the crisis began, the business had declined from generating an annual profit to its present situation of making a loss or just breaking even. Now, however, the EU was showing signs of recovery, business confidence was returning, bookings were recovering and income generation was starting to look up. The co-owners’ frustration with the situation in recent years had at times been so bad that on several occasions they had spoken about selling the business while they could still break even. Now the question confronting them was whether they should put all their struggles behind them, retain the ownership of the hotel and look forward to enjoying the potential days of profit that lay ahead. With these questions on his mind, Sandis thought about the meeting he had planned in a week’s time with his two partners in Latvia. Many variables needed to be weighed before they decided on the strategic direction they should take. The co-owners were his two best friends, and they had spent many years working together.
BACKGROUND
In Latvia, the winter temperatures fluctuate between –25 and –2 degrees Celsius; and during the daytime, it is grey and dark after 4 p.m. Because of this climate, observers often say the Latvian people can, at times, seem a little depressed and not so joyous or communicative, compared with those in southern Europe. For those who live in warmer Mediterranean climates with year-round sunshine, life appears comparatively more relaxed and carefree. Because of Latvia’s northern location, in the winter, Latvians go to work in the dark and when they finish work, they return home in the dark. The long cold winter stretches from November to April. In contrast, Latvia’s climate from May to October is delightful.
Sandis spent 25 years working as a high-ranking city official in Latvia during what he described as “the good times under Soviet control,” when Latvia enjoyed high levels of employment, productive manufacturing plants and very little corruption due to the tight security and military and police control. Even though wages were low, most Latvian people led simple lives and were happy.
Not long after 1991, when Latvia gained independence from the Soviet Union, discussions commenced toward it becoming a member of the EU. From then onward, most of the Soviet-backed manufacturing plants began closing down, unemployment increased, uncontrolled corruption grew and the country’s gross domestic product dropped significantly. Many security professionals and soldiers who had worked for the Soviets no longer had a job, which led to a new industry of private protection and security services, although some of those involved had questionable standards of corporate governance.
With independence, Latvians started looking forward to a new-found freedom. The Latvian people felt excitement and confidence in the media and in government officials promoting successful growth. Celebrating their new independence, the Latvian politicians were riding the wave of popularity. However, Sandis had worked in a government facility and had an insider’s view of how these elected representatives really operated. He felt that most of them worked hard only near an election, but after the election was over, their overall priority was to make money. Sandis’s long-term experience led him to conclude that when an election was coming, government leaders would show great care for the public, make unrealistic statements about positive strategies for the future but after they had been re-elected, they often forgot most of the promises they had made.
After more than two decades working as part of the Soviet security establishment in Latvia prior to 2001, Sandis and his colleagues, Johachim Kaspars and Kemat Valdis, had developed strong bonds, friendships and acquaintances with many powerful government and military officials, some of whom were in high office. They had also endured many years working under tough conditions and were now ready to try to do some private business of their own. Their belief and research had heightened their expectation that tourism was likely to grow in Latvia, as the country became a full member of the EU. In addition, all economic indicators suggested the demand for tourism facilities and accommodation was likely to grow. After long hours of discussion and consideration, the three former Soviet servants were confident that collectively they had now accumulated enough money and trusting relationships with bankers to be successful in realizing their dream of building a five-star hotel in the centre of Liepaja, Latvia’s resort and seaport city.
Politically, the relationship between Latvia and the EU was also evolving. Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis felt that the enthusiasm and the West’s growing confidence in the Latvian business environment made it the right time to invest in the hotel industry. With good planning and management, they were confident of success at a time when the Latvian economy was entering a period of expected growth.
The co-owners registered their new business in the Latvian Official Company Register for €200s, and their application was approved after they had established their company bank account containing a minimum deposit of €3000s. Their first taste of what lay ahead was the realization that, at that time,
running a company in Latvia meant an almost constant need to satisfy the demands of the Revenue Service (RS).
In what seemed to be an after-effect from the Soviet era, Latvia company bookkeepers and accountants devoted a large portion of their daily work time to ensuring their company was complying with RS rules. At times, this task proved to be all encompassing and an unwanted difficulty as the RS decision makers were prone to making changes to the countries taxation rules on very short notice. As Kaspars lamented, “Such legalistic changes were liable to happen up to 200 times during any given year.”
Another complication was that when the RS changed a taxation rule or created a new rule, companies were not given any standard period of time to adjust but were expected to immediately correctly implement and abide by the new law or rule. Tax rates and taxable items were constantly changing, which led to complaints among members of the business community. But it made no difference to the RS officials, as they exercised total control and were not afraid to use their power. Unless one had a strong relationship with an RS insider, these government tax officials were rarely prepared to listen to any complaints. Consequently, company bookkeepers were under constant pressure to keep up to date. They needed to constantly be on the lookout for RS Information Releases and continually consulted their RS contacts and communication networks so they could implement any given changes in a timely manner. Complicating the matter further was that the RS sometimes gave only minimal directions and explanations on how new rules and laws should be correctly interpreted and implemented. The lucidity and interpretations of the changes could vary greatly, and the RS would not hesitate to impose a fine on any company found applying the new rules in an incorrect manner.
Although Latvia was now a part of the EU, the senior RS officials had spent all of their working life operating under the Soviet system. They knew no other way and were reluctant to change or respond to training. Their type of communication, thinking, behaviour, management and work environment continued to exhibit characteristics from their Soviet past, when the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) had previously controlled Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Estonia, countries whose people had followed the socialist philosophy of Marx, Engels and Lenin. Most people holding senior positions in the Latvian RS had started working there when Latvia had no private companies, restaurants, shops or hotels, and everything was owned by the state and operated under the Soviet socialist philosophy. In those times, private ownership was banned, and people had to prove they could work hard, be honest and share communal facilities. The general public had little power to make their own decisions regarding how much they were able to spend or what they would spend it on. The buying choices were usually narrow (e.g., only three types of car could be purchased — if anyone could afford one), and the socialist ideology promoted the philosophy that owning any property was bad and that capitalism only exploited working people.
Latvians thus experienced a significantly different style of thinking and government from the norm for people in the EU and Western market economies. After Latvia gained independence, change was initially slow. A significant period of time passed before senior government officials and employees, long entrenched in government positions under Soviet conditions, chose to retire or to adjust their thinking toward the characteristics of the EU market economy. Latvia had supposedly become an open-market economy, and many new emerging entrepreneurs who had worked hard to become successful now enjoyed the fruits of a market economy. These successful businesspeople could afford to own a modern car and a private house, yet they were still being made to feel guilty under the former Soviet ideology. As Sandis explained:
If you were making money, the members of older generations made you feel like you had robbed somebody or you had stolen something and they were usually angry with successful modern business people. Sometimes they would say it to your face that they “are so angry with you being successful and making money, driving a Mercedes and having a nice place to live” even though you may have worked hard to get all of these material things. Some of my friends in Latvia got so tired of this attitude that they decided to sell their business, sell all of their possessions and leave the country. These successful people were paying a lot of tax and the older generations working in the government offices didn’t understand that their salaries come from these taxes. My colleague who had worked in the Revenue Service from the middle of the 1990s started telling me that the biggest taxpayers were the bureaucrats. I had to stop him and say that “I’m sorry my friend, the source of your salary and the bureaucrats is from taxation charged on private businesses.” This was the way the older generation that grew up under the Soviet rule continued to think although small changes are slowly taking place and it is starting to become a little bit easier for successful modern business people in society. Many of my friends, even from outside Latvia, believed it would take two generations for this attitude and type of thinking to be fully eroded and perhaps gone. Now we are trying to explain this new concept to the 40-, 50- and 60- year-old employees that worked in the Revenue Service or Finance Police Department all their lives under the Soviet control.
Latvia became independent in 1991 and immediately after fell into a deep crisis. Jobs, money and opportunities dried up, and by 2000, many skilled people were leaving Latvia to seek a job abroad. They would try to find a job in another EU country, then save some money and later return to Latvia to buy a flat and maybe set up a business to improve their living conditions.
Introducing Latvia into a market economy had led to many problems, and the average workers were the people who suffered in the long term. The Latvian government was not ready for this change and took no action to avoid a significant banking crisis that was incubating due to its vague transition strategy and questionable governance. The banking crisis began not long after Latvia had been granted independence from the Soviet Union and the commencement of its new membership in the EU. Under the new EU policy and conditions, banking officials responsible for granting loans started being paid bonuses on the amount of money they could loan, not on the ability of borrowers to realistically repay the loans. This approach was a complete change in policy from the former Soviet banking environment; as a result, Latvian loan officials soon realized their opportunity and started to take advantage of the situation by approving loans much too easily, without conducting due diligence on prospective borrowers. As a result, borrowing money became much easier, and credibility checks on those applying for loans were often questionable and minimal. Bank officials were taking the opportunity to make more money than ever before and were unconcerned with the ability of borrowers to actually make repayments or repay their loans in full. The bank officials’ main motivator was the commission they would be paid, based on the size of the loan.
When Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis decided to pursue their Hotel Latvia dream, they had been unaware of any of these developing credit problems or the difficulties they could create for their new venture in the future. Feeling confident, they made a request to the bank for a loan of €22 million in 2002, and were surprised as to how easy it was to gain approval.
Sandis explained:
When we gained the €22 million loan to finance building our hotel, our bankers were coming and asking “Why did you take only this amount? Why don’t you take more?” We said, “We don’t need more. What we have been loaned is enough.” We didn’t know the bank officers responsible for providing the credit would get bonuses from the amount of money they loaned to the people. Their checking and due diligence was almost non-existent and they were not even asking for credit records or proof of income. Instead they were asking questions like, “If you need more money or a new car then why don’t you take a bigger loan?”
Prior to purchasing the land on which they would build their hotel, Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis had first built one large apartment building in the central historical area of Riga, the Latvian capital, as a test case to provide them with the opportunity to measure the market, gain some experience in the real estate market, develop a better understanding of the construction industry and begin to generate some income while their larger project was developing. Enjoying success on this first smaller project saw their confidence grow toward the construction of their much larger Hotel Latvia complex. With their larger loan secured, the Hotel Latvia project started in 2002, when Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis identified, researched and purchased land in the centre of Liepaja, Latvia’s resort and seaport city. They wanted to build the hotel in the old part of the city, as it was in a central location, which would be attractive for customers. Because of the location, they expected they could charge slightly higher rates when serving their target markets of businesspeople and tourists who expected quality facilities. In preparing to build, they needed to remove from the existing site the remains of a few old decaying structures that were in serious danger of collapsing. They thought it would be easy to clear and start construction soon after; however, gaining the approvals to demolish these old ruins for their much larger project proved to be significantly more complicated. In a frustrated tone, Kaspars recalled the situation:
You could not imagine the politics involved when you want to build something in the historical part of Liepaja. On the proposed Hotel Latvia site we had purchased, there were several crumbling down and neglected ruins that had no official status or any conditions existing on them saying that “they needed to be restored.” The buildings were totally ruined and we had proceeded to commission three private, official, independent assessments of the proposed site that all concluded they were impossible to restore and that the only safe action to take would be to demolish them. These on-site ruins were in danger of collapse at any moment. However, despite this evidence, the government said there is no possibility that we could demolish them and build something new in the historical part of the city.
To try to change the decision we had to arrange several meetings with several politicians and government officials to get approvals from their respective departments to undertake the construction. It was a big headache to get all of these approvals. Although we could demolish most of the buildings the government departments informed us that each of the front facades of the ruins had to be restored. As a condition of the approval, we had to pay all restoration costs. Another building company we knew who were building in a nearby city also had problems and were not allowed to demolish even one wall of an old decaying building on their site even though it had large cracks in the building and the façade was not even traditional. The one they wanted to demolish was a very ordinary building with no historical value. On one occasion they were officially granted permission from the Architectural Authority to proceed with the demolition at 10 a.m. and then later on the same day at 11.45 a.m. received a second notification from another department saying that “permission to demolish it had been refused.” Today, this building still remains untouched in the centre of the city. Unfortunately, we learned of their experience well after we had begun our building process.
In Latvia’s new market economy, the officials who granted permissions were taking advantage of their newfound power. For businesses to gain any kind of documented approval, they now had to offer the officials something extra to get their signature of approval. Many approvals could not be completed by dealing directly with the officials responsible but had to be done through networks of connections. Valdis was frustrated and threw his arms in the air, stating “You had to use somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.” Before Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis could even consider beginning construction, much more time was wasted and “under-the-table” fees needed to be paid to a portfolio of connections. Then, after construction had commenced, if the authorities wanted to stop the process to extract some additional favours, they could always find a mechanism whereby someone could complain and put a halt to everything. So, in total, it took the group several years to get all of the approvals to actually go ahead and commence the building construction.
When construction of Hotel Latvia finally commenced, a new problem confronted Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis. The builders and construction employees knew demand on construction services was vastly outstripping the current supply in Latvia, as only a limited number of building companies could build such large structures. As a result, the pressure on at the worksite was always intense, and the co-owners looked at using three builders to carry out the construction. If the builders arrived in the morning to commence the day’s work and if all of the materials or equipment were not there, or if some problem prevented them from starting immediately, then the builders would pack up and head off to work on another site. When this happened, the disruption resulted in the builders having to return later, and the price of construction would increase. This interruption in the schedule also resulted in frustrating delays; sometimes the builders would not return for several days. The hotel was a big project, and in the end, Valdis had to spend every day at the worksite to supervise the building company’s employees and ensure they were working. If no building company supervisor was present on the worksite, then the employees would often not work to capacity, significantly reducing their productivity. The construction companies knew that they were in a strong bargaining position. Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis were in a tough situation, as Latvia had too many buildings under construction, most were only partly completed and Latvia lacked a sufficient number of companies that were competent enough to do all the construction.
Valdis reflected:
We had a separate contract with a German company to do all the installations on the ground floor comprising the hotel’s entry, front desk area, bar and all the other features and facilities. They did a quality job and did it very quickly. The local Latvian builders were working on another part of the hotel at the same time, and the German builders had commented how at times the Latvian builders could not be found, were smoking outside or just sitting around doing nothing. In the end, I had to go to the site every day to supervise their work for the last four months including on the weekends, from the morning to the evening. Sometimes we had to threaten the builders to make sure they were doing their job because they took short cuts, time off or left to work on other building sites.
The German building company had designed the hotel and brought with them all of the materials to complete the entrance hall, and another German company came to install all of the lamps in the hotel. The German lighting employees were professional and efficient, and it took only three employees to complete the job in three days. For the Latvian construction companies, progress was much slower. After having to apply constant pressure on them to keep working effectively, the construction of the hotel was finally completed in one and a half years.
Finding the talented employees to staff the hotel was another issue. A large number of applications were received; however, finding the right standard and quality of employee suitable to staff this five-star operation required intense interviewing and a comprehensive training program.
The Hotel Latvia finally opened in 2006, and business started well. The hotel’s initial marketing campaign was successful: after six months of business, it was performing better than its competitors but was still not generating enough income to meet the co-owners’ strategic target. In the first two years, they generated enough income to service their loan but sometimes needed to contribute their own money to meet the repayments. Some adjustments were necessary, and halfway through their second year of operation, they sold their initial trial investment in Riga and asked the bank to deposit the funds from the sale into an offset account to reduce the interest being paid on the loan.
By the third year, Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis had also renegotiated an increase in the term of their loan from 20 years to 25 years, with the goal of reducing their repayments and, thus, the level of financial pressure. This strategy helped them to adjust to the change in market conditions and encouraged the untried entrepreneurs to become more contingent. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the level of tourism declined sharply in Latvia in 2009 and 2010. By then, due to the significant drop in tourist numbers, the co-owners were generating only 60 per cent of the revenue required to meet their business target.
To try to cope with the downturn in bookings and reduction in income generation, they needed to make some strategic changes. These changes included downsizing the staff by 18 per cent, closing one of the guest floors, eliminating one of the elevators to reduce power costs and opening their five-star restaurants only on weekends.
During the downturn, not only did individual people stop travelling but companies, government and universities stopped holding conferences and/or reduced the number of delegates they were sending to conferences. These changes resulted both in universities, governments and associations reducing their number of conferences and in many existing industry conferences significantly decreasing their budgets.
Said Sandis:
We had many solid and developing contracts for annual conferences and tours but at the beginning of 2009 there were many cancellations and a sharp drop off in group tours and individuals coming to stay at the Hotel.
At about this time a Dutch professor I knew came to Latvia for a short term on foreign exchange to give some lectures and organize some student exchanges. After a time, he told me he believed a high percentage of the Latvian university students will leave Latvia for Germany and other countries after they graduate. Although he was a foreigner, he was worried about the situation in our country. He believed the IMF [International Monetary Fund] had made a mistake to place such heavy austerity measures on Latvia and it had created a very bad situation that would be difficult to recover from. Although it was not openly reported in the Western press, Latvia was in trouble much earlier than Spain, Greece and Italy with their gross domestic product declining by 18 per cent in 2009. Most of the decline was in construction because, during the preceding period of steady growth, the real estate and construction sectors grew out of control and too many buildings were built for the demand at that time. This had resulted in the problem of an oversupply of rooms in the hotel sector.
Eventually, the Latvian economy collapsed, real estate prices declined, companies and many individuals holding loans went bankrupt, salaries decreased by 30 to 40 per cent, and many people lost their jobs with unemployment rising significantly. The government was in financial difficulty and could afford to pay people who had been retrenched only a small percentage of their promised redundancy or unemployment payments. Even worse was that the government’s unemployment financial assistance following redundancy usually lasted only nine months; and when these payments ceased, the unemployed persons had to take care of themselves.
The downturn delivered to Latvia a market economy reality check that very few people who had lived under Soviet control could predict, understand or imagine. Huge excesses had occurred at the beginning of the growth phase in 2002, when bankers and financiers had enjoyed considerable wealth, and they now had to be paid for. Not conducting the required due diligence on those who wanted to borrow the money when times were good and giving out poorly backed or unsupported loans was now having a severe and adverse effect on the Latvian economy.
Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis had worked hard and had built their hotel from the ground up during the peak in construction activity; as a result, their construction costs had been higher than expected. After the slowdown, business did not run according to their expectations and, like many others, they were in a difficult situation regarding loan repayments to the bank. Many people had taken out large bank loans and mortgaged everything, including their homes, to ride the boom. After the downturn, many companies went bankrupt, were taken over by the banks or closed down because they could not afford to make the repayments. Most were overexposed with too much debt and no liquidity to make the repayments. Although this situation was happening throughout Latvia, Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis still had the liquidity to continue making repayments, though their strategic options were severely reduced.
Due to their tight fiscal management, the three Hotel Latvia owners did not have to sell the hotel but began to consider whether they should get out while they were still able to break even. They realized that to go on trying to make money from the hotel would be hard work, and the venture had not delivered their expected outcome. They started wondering about their future risk on the amount of return they could generate. Were the hardest times over, meaning it would now be a mistake to sell? Solving all the approval problems during the years of construction had taken its toll, and with the building problems and increase in costs, it appeared that if they sold now, they could make a zero net gain in value on their decade of hard work and investment. At another time, the outcome would have been very profitable; however, the business environment following Latvia’s entry into the EU had taken its toll on and had disadvantaged Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis, as a result of a tough combination of factors: the Latvian people’s slow adaptation to the evolving market economy, corrupt bankers and government officials, building contractors taking advantage of the excess demand in the construction industry and the sudden economical crash.
Despite their situation, their bank was not currently concerned about their financial situation and was not putting pressure on them to liquidate their property or make any extra repayments on their loan. The bank had many other poorer performing loans and associated issues to worry about and its main concern was the number of its bad loans. Many lenders owed their banks substantial amounts of money, and many companies found themselves overextended and facing bankruptcy.
Valdis expressed his concern:
When we saw some good businesses being taken over by the banks without warning or with very short notice, we became concerned. We anticipated we may have to sell the hotel not long after it was completed because the cost of construction had gone 18 per cent over budget and, as a result, our monthly repayments and period of the loan had both grown significantly. Our business had started so well we thought the future would be profitable. Following the EU crash, it appeared some type of recovery had started and we thought there may be an opportunity to sell it in 2012 as Latvia’s credit and investment ratings proposed by the International Rating Agency, Standard and Poor’s, were improving and looking better.
But another serious problem was looming in the hotel sector. Latvia’s average price per room had dropped sharply because many hoteliers were in deep trouble and had started slashing their prices because they were located in less marketable locations. One example was the Reval Hotel that boasted 240 rooms in suburban Riga. Facing very poor occupancy, the operator in charge had suddenly slashed prices and had begun to sell rooms to large groups of tours at prices that were so low that they decimated the whole market. Once the Reval Hotel owners found out what their managers were doing, they immediately dismissed them and changed their operator but it was too late. For the rest of the market, the damage had already been done through the reductions in their bookings and through agents and customers who were no longer prepared to pay the former prices.
This incident happened at a critical time, when Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis were considering searching for a new partner to purchase 30 per cent of the hotel, in an effort to help reduce their loan pressure. Ideally, they needed a partner who had the cash to buy a portion of the property, and then the co-owners could use the money generated to offset or repay a larger part of the loan and thereby reduce their debt. With a fourth partner joining the group, it would have made it significantly easier to survive but after the Reval Hotel had slashed its prices, that option was no longer possible. The unpredictable situation drove away all potential buyers; they were afraid to invest and had decided to wait until the situation improved. Kaspars’s connections in a different bank informed him that the financial markets did not know what the situation may be for the future in Latvia, and much doubt surrounded the industry and marketplace. Some price targeting had broken out from time to time, and the reduced number of customers who required accommodation in Latvia were enjoying quality deals.
Upon reflection, compared with most of the businesses at that time, Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis were among the lucky ones. Despite their many problems, they still believed that, if necessary, they could still sell their hotel, pay off their debt and get out without losing money. Looking at the market around them, they saw many others lose everything; gone was the confidence that had existed before the crisis. Wisely, they had made sure they had mortgaged only the property on which the hotel was being built; none of their own private dwellings were included as part of their collateral on their original €22 million loan.
The Hotel Latvia was built on a prime piece of land in coastal Liepaja, so it retained most of its value following the crisis and did not decrease by in real estate value as much as other properties further from the centre of the city or in less marketable locations. As time wore on, many competitors disappeared completely. Those that had managed to survive had experienced significant decreases in income. At the beginning of 2012, Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis again commenced negotiations with a large global finance company based in London in an attempt to sell the hotel. They found that from 2008 to 2011, the sale price of the hotel had decreased by approximately 35 per cent. Their agents had tried selling the Hotel Latvia to different investment companies, and their responses had initially been positive. However, when investors saw the predicted future of Latvia and its poor credit and investment ratings, the buyers’ interest had ceased, and it was difficult for the agents to generate any serious interest.
Selling agents would tell us, “We know you guys have a good hotel but the country is no good. The climate for business and investment is poor and the future is not good.”
In the seven years following the boom that had begun in 2002, most of the surge in business activity, income generation and increases in prices had been in the construction industry. As a result, when the decline hit the construction companies, the support industries and related jobs were the worst affected. Only when the credit and investment ratings began to rise a few points in early 2013 did any purchasers begin to show any real interest in buying the hotel. Western investors were becoming interested again but their offers were still much below what the co-owners considered to be an acceptable price.
As Sandis explained:
They all came with the idea that they could buy our hotel for what we describe as “sandwiches.” I mean, for a very cheap price, and we thought they really wanted to buy it for nothing. The poor prices and demand were as a result of the construction bubble throughout Europe. Believe me, the politicians and bureaucrats could see it coming long before the crisis arrived but they did nothing because they were all set to make a lot of money out of it.
By the beginning of 2013, a slight recovery had begun, especially with the number of Russian tourists again beginning to grow. To Russian tourists, Latvia was now being marketed as an EU country and hence an international destination. In addition, rumours had begun that the EU was beginning to emerge from the recession, and that the steep austerity measures currently imposed at the time were soon to be eased.
Sandis, Kaspars and Valdis were at the point where they now had three options. One was to keep the hotel and continue working hard to enjoy the fruits of the supposed upturn that appeared to be commencing. The second option was to now find another partner to purchase a share in the company and to use this money to reduce their debt repayments and risk. Their third option was to sell the hotel completely and walk away with approximately the same amount of funds they had started with in 2002. Were there any other options?
Sandis knew the meeting with Valdis and Kaspars would occur on the evening after his return to Liepaja. He sat in the chair in his bungalow on the Maldives and wondered what they should do.